


Kiri's Team 14

by Alphum



Series: Pastel Promiseland [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: BAMF Haruno Sakura, Basically this is a "nothing bad ever happened ever to anyone" AU, Canon-Typical Violence, Dan and Nawaki live, Excessive Worldbuilding, Gen, Good Orochimaru (Naruto), Haruno Sakura-centric, Haruno family is from Uzushio, Hoshigaki Kisame-centric, Kisame is so excited to be a teacher he goes full dad mode, Kisame never left Kiri, Mei is Mizukage, Namikaze Minato Lives, No Bloody Mist Kiri, No Kannabi Bridge mission, No Uchiha Massacre, Non-Binary Haku, None of Sarutobi's bullshit, Sakura actually gets taught, Sakura is a Kiri nin, Sakura is on a genin team with Haku and Chojuro and Kisame is their Jounin teacher, Strong Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Obito Lives, Utakata never left Kiri, Uzumaki Kushina Lives, Yagura was never Mizukage, Zabuza never left Kiri, discussion of caste society, flagrant disregard of canon, flagrant disregard of timelines, inspired by fanart i saw on tumblr that I can't find anymore, kisame is a good teacher, rating change to T, slaps roof of fic this bad boy can fit so many fuckin aus in it, slow updates because author is taking 20 credits
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:54:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 35,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24640414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alphum/pseuds/Alphum
Summary: In a very different universe, Sakura finds herself in very similar circumstances. She becomes a Genin and gets two powerhouses for teammates and a Jounin teacher who overlooks her in favor of them. It made sense that he'd ignore her, since he was handpicked for them. She's ready to slip through the cracks where, if she's lucky, she'll be a paper ninja for the rest of her life.That destiny is put on hold when Kisame Hoshigaki is chosen to be the new teacher of team 14. He's always wanted to be a Jounin instructor and he's determined to take care of all three of his kids, not just the ones with important connections. He's always rooted for the underdog, after all.An AU where Sakura's family immigrated to Kiri instead of Konoha
Relationships: Haruno Sakura & Choujuurou & Haku, Haruno Sakura & Hoshigaki Kisame, Hoshigaki Kisame & Haruno Sakura & Haku & Choujuurou
Series: Pastel Promiseland [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1799359
Comments: 542
Kudos: 1354





	1. Chapter 1

Kisame was returning from a mission when he was told at the gates that the Mizukage wanted to see him right away. When Mei Terumi wanted something, you hurried, so he dashed across the rooftops as quickly as he could. There was a large window outside her office that he jumped straight through.

The receptionist, a scarred chunin woman, nodded politely to him and stood at once. She knocked on the door and popped her head in. “Hoshigaki for you, ma’am.”

“Send him in.”

She glanced up from her paperwork when he walked in, her visible eye tracking him intently. “Mission status?” She asked. There were faint shadows under her eye, clouded by makeup. Bruise-deep signs of exhaustion. Something big must have happened.

“Complete. All parameters fulfilled.” He walked the long length of the room to her desk and pulled out the mission scroll. He thanked his lucky stars that he’d filled out his report last night in a fit of boredom. He bowed deeply and handed it to her before stepping back a polite amount. He wanted to give himself a bit of breathing room in terms of the glare Ao was shooting him over her shoulder. On her other side, Zabuza nodded in greeting.

“Good. New mission for you.” She pulled out a thick scroll. “I know you weren’t initially tapped, but I had you on my list of back-ups.”

He stepped forward again to take it, frowning. If he wasn’t initially tapped, that meant that someone in the line ahead of him had died. Was this mission dangerous? How long would he be gone? What sort of casualties could he expect since she had just handed him supplementary scrolls of team members rolled inside the mission scroll? He gasped in delight when he unrolled it. “You’re giving me a genin team?” He clutched the supplementary scrolls protectively, half-afraid she might try to take them back.

She smiled slightly. It made her look less tired, more relaxed. “You hold the future of our village in your hands. Take good care of them.”

Behind her, Zabuza nodded in agreement.

Only then did Kisame scan the names on the supplementary file scrolls. He almost dropped them. Haku Yuki-Momochi and Chojuro Terumi. Oh jeez. Zabuza’s kid  _ and _ Mei’s kid. What had he done to deserve this? At least they were no longer in the brief era of the bloody mist and he wouldn’t be responsible for driving each to kill the other. He bowed lowly. “I’ll protect them with my life and livelihood.” He promised, looking at Mei and Zabuza both.

Zabuza finally relaxed from the tense stance he’d been holding.

Mei’s smile widened. “Good. They’re waiting for you in the filing room. We put them to work when their original jounin turned up dead on a supplementary mission. Dismissed.”

He nodded and bowed one last time before he left. He released a deep breath once the doors to her office closed behind him. He almost couldn’t believe it. He’d signed up for jounin teaching every year that he could, but had never been tapped for it until now. No doubt that was a result of… He squinted down at the scroll. Teruo Okawa’s untimely death. Whoever the hell that was. He had no doubt that whoever he was, he had been handpicked by Mei to teach her ward, with input from Zabuza as well. That meant he was second choice, but that didn’t sting him so much as bolster him. He’d obviously been in the running from the start if he’d been tapped now.

“Hoshigaki-san?” He glanced to the side. The receptionist was frowning slightly at him, concerned. “Are you alright?”

He grinned down at her. “I got a genin team.”

She blinked and then smiled slightly. “Congratulations.”

“Thanks. Which way to the filing room?” He glanced around.

“Second floor. Rooms 206 to 211.”

“Thanks.” He headed for the stairs, scanning the scrolls in his arms. He’d have his hands full with Chojuro and Haku, but who was the third member of the team? Her name was Sakura Haruno. He slowed to a stop as he scanned her file, grimacing with pity. Low scores in taijutsu, kenjutsu, and ninjutsu. Smart and good with genjutsu, but not good enough to make up for the physical skills she lacked. With Chojuro and Haku on her team, both of them practically prodigies, she was canon fodder just waiting to be overlooked. Even more so when he remembered that Chojuro was tapped as a potential future swordsman of the mist and Haku had a bloodline trait. He winced again when he noticed her address.

The land of mist operated with a caste system. It was just one part of what made the mists so bloody in the last generation. The highest level of caste was made up of families who were direct descendents of Kiri citizens, like the Terumi clan and the Momochi clan. The lowest level of caste was made up of families and refugees who were assimilated from defeated nations, like the Haruno family. Her family were refugees from Uzushio. They’d made their way to Kiri in the wake of the destruction and settled here. It looked like her mother was a seamstress and her father was a baker, both laborers within the village proper. Her social standing was one of the lowest possible, only barely above a non-shinobi refugee citizen.

It was another thing that set her keenly apart from her teammates. It was probable that she lacked any of the skills that Haku and Chojuro learned at home, obvious that she didn’t get any additional teaching of things that put Haku and Chojuro another step ahead of her. The one thing she had in her favor was that she had passed the academy courses  _ despite _ these disadvantages. She knew what opposition was and had probably already overcome a fair bit of it. She was probably scrappy and determined. He could work with scrappy and determined.

He read his mission scroll that laid out a crude syllabus in terms of required and recommended skills to teach. Read it again. A third time to memorize it. Read and memorized all of the kid’s files. He tucked them away in his pack for later and headed to the second floor. He stretched out his chakra and located the three little sparks in the filing rooms with ease. Two bright little stars and a smaller little ember.

“Team fourteen, assemble!” He barked.

There was a squeak from one room and a thump from another. Three sets of scampering footsteps, though one was much quieter, and three genin assembled in a line in front of him.

Kisame bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing because two of these kids were  _ pastel. _ One had baby blue hair and the other had bright pink. That was the Uzushio kid, obviously. The blue boy he recognized from a photo in Mei’s office. They were both clearly nervous. Sakura, and oh gods, he drew blood from the inside of his cheek in his effort not to laugh, what had her parents been  _ thinking _ , Sakura was staring with wide eyes at his sword. Chojuro was shaking with nerves, staring at the floor. Haku was the only one of them who looked pleased to see him. He was pretty sure. Mostly sure. Fairly sure. Now that he was thinking about it, that might just be the kid’s default face.

Haku bowed politely. “Hoshigaki-san, it’s good to see you again.”

Kisame grinned.

Sakura’s eyes went even wider at the sight of his filed teeth.

“I’m your new jounin instructor, Kisame Hoshigaki. You three, come with me.”

He turned on his heels and marched off. After a split second, three sets of hurried footsteps followed, Haku’s still much quieter. When he glanced over his shoulder, Haku and Chojuro were walking together and Sakura was following behind them, eyes downcast.

Once they got to the training ground he preferred, he finally got a good look at them.

All three of them wore the standard issue purple turtlenecks. They were triple layered for warmth against the cold and wind. The innermost layer was a sweatwicking layer to pull moisture away from the skin, the middle layer was lightweight armor, and the outermost layer was treated to repel water and help keep the wearer dry. The three layers were quilted together with pinstriped seams.

Haku wore a green kimono over theirs, with short sleeves and yellow trim. Kisame hoped they were wearing pants under that. Skirts were a bitch to fight in. They were also wearing shin guards and metal-backed gloves. They wore their kiri headband on their forehead and had small blue bows gathered around the tips of their bangs to keep them tidy. They were also wearing a berry tinted shimmer of lipstick.

Chojuro wore the standard issue pants with his, camouflage in five different colors of blue and gray. He wore two swords across his back on a slim leather sash. He was wearing a tough pair of leather gloves that left his fingers exposed. He was wearing his kiri headband around his neck.

Sakura wore a pair of black shorts and pink knee pads, with a belt over top of her turtleneck to cinch the excess fabric down. She wore her bright pink hair loose, wearing her headband as an actual headband, keeping her hair back from her face.

Haku was carrying several braces of senbon and some kunai, Sakura had a pouch of kunai and a roll of exploding tags on her belt, and Chojuro was carrying two swords and a few kunai. None of them were carrying rations or a first aid kit and all of them were woefully underequipped. 

They’d been with their other teacher for two weeks and they still looked like this? Well, at least it would be a teaching moment for all three of them.

“Alright little goldfish, sit down and empty out all of your equipment. While you’re doing that, I’ll introduce myself.” He shrugged his own pack off and set it aside. He also pulled Samehada off and set her down carefully so he could take a seat. He began pulling out his own equipment, assembling it in neat lines. “My name is Kisame Hoshigaki. I’m one of the seven swordsmen of the mist, which is probably why I’ve been selected to be your new Jounin teacher. I assume you’ve all been told your old teacher died on a mission?” He glanced up.

Haku nodded. “Zabuza says he was careless.”

Kisame nodded in agreement. “Damn right he was. That’s your first lesson, goldfish. If you’re underprepared, you always die. Preparation and being well-equipped can save your life. My point in case, how would any of you three survive if you were dropped in the middle of the enemy territory right now?” He gestured at the paltry equipment all of them had in front of them.

Chojuro had a whetstone, ten kunai, a katana, a wakizashi, 370 ryo in small coins, and a glasses case.

Sakura had twelve kunai, twenty shuriken, a coil of ninja wire, a tube of chapstick, two bandaids, a water bottle, a brand new roll of ten exploding tags, 90 ryo in small coins, a notebook and pen, and four hair ties.

Haku had sixty senbon, a coil of ninja wire, a tanto, 2000 ryo in crisp bills, a length of blue ribbon, a tube of lipstick, and a compact mirror.

By contrast, in front of Kisame, he had thirty kunai, five exploding tags, two whetstones, a skinning knife, a fishing kit, three coils of ninja wire, two canteens of water, eight protein bars, a bottle of chakra pills, a bottle of blood replenishing pills, four glowsticks, a pack of tinder and a waterproofed pack of matches, a suture kit, eight rolls of bandages, a tube of antiseptic cream, a pack of fish jerky, a compass, a pencil and a notebook, a fileting knife, a comb, a toothbrush, 38,582 ryo in mixed bills and coins, a tub of sunscreen, and a tiny carved shark for good luck. 

“Keep in mind that this is all from my person.” He added. “My pack is over there.” He had deliberately put it a good six feet away. 

All three of them were staring at his assortment of objects.

“I expect all of you to prepare yourselves every day like you could be dropped into Suna with no way back. That means, at minimum, each of you should have a compass, water purifying tablets, a canteen, a first aid kit, two glowsticks, rations, a tinderbox, and enough money to purchase emergency supplies. You need a way to set traps while you sleep and a way to get food. If you can’t survive in the wild on the drop of a hat, you can’t be a ninja. Understand?”

All three of them nodded. Sakura had surreptitiously grabbed her little notebook and was jotting down the list in shorthand.

“Good. Sakura, good job on being the most well prepared.”

Her head jerked up in surprise and she looked him in the eye for the first time with surprise and a pleased little blush.

“I got distracted.” He hummed. “I’m 28. I’ve been one of the swordsman for twelve years, ever since I killed my superior for selling village secrets to the enemy. I obviously specialize in kenjutsu and taijutsu, but I also have a mastery of water techniques and a proficiency in earth techniques. My favorite foods are crab and shrimp. You all can introduce yourselves now. Techniques you know, something that you’ve learned from your old teacher, what sort of ninja you want to be, and your favorite food.”

Predictably, Haku, the most self-assured of the three, spoke up first. “I am Haku Yuki-Momochi. I’ve trained with Zabuza, my guardian, extensively in kenjutsu, however, I favor senbon. I have both wind and water styles and use them both to utilize ice type techniques. I am training to become a hunter nin when I get older, though ideally I would like to one day become Zabuza’s partner. Okawa-sensei worked with us primarily in kenjutsu and taijutsu. My favorite food is ice cream.” They spoke softly, but confidently, smiling neutrally. Kisame didn’t miss that they said ‘worked with’ rather than ‘learned’ about their old teacher. Then he turned and smiled encouragingly at Chojuro.

Chojuro was sweating bullets. He was shaking slightly. He took a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut before he spoke. “I-I-I’m Chojuro T-Terumi. I f-focus m-mostly on kenjutsu and taijutsu and w-water techniques. I w-want to b-be one of th-the s-s-seven sw-swordsmen.” He seemed to relax a bit when talking about his proficiencies, but tensed back up when thinking about his goal. “I w-worked on k-kenjutsu w-with O-Ok-O-Okawa-s-sensei.” And he got even more tense thinking about his old teacher. “I l-like p-pears.” And then he let out a huge breath like he’d just run a marathon, shoulders trembling. Oh jeez. The poor thing was going to get eaten before he could even look at one of the seven swords, wasn’t he? 

“Good job, Chojuro.” He nodded, deciding positive reinforcement was probably the best way to go with him. Then he looked at Sakura. 

She dropped his gaze nervously. “I’m Sakura Haruno. I’m a genjutsu type. I use seals too. And I have really good chakra control.” She clenched her fists in her lap. “I want to become a strong ninja so I can buy a house in the inner circle for my mom and dad. I like dango.”

Kisame narrowed his eyes slightly, noted how she was holding one arm slightly closer to her stomach, ever so slightly protecting it. Protecting it from further harm? “Did you learn anything from Okawa?” He asked bluntly.

She ducked her head. Shook it ‘no’ after a moment. 

Chojuro and Haku both looked uncomfortable, though Haku’s discomfort was far more subtle. Chojuro was wincing and looking away while Haku merely lowered their eyes with the faintest grimace.

“Seems like he was a useless teacher then.” Kisame scoffed.

All three of his genin looked up at him in surprise.

Kisame snorted. “What? Think I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead? He’s dead and he probably deserved it, no need to speak well of him now when he’s not even around to hear it. It doesn’t seem like he taught any of you anything, except how to be scared of him.” That sort of attitude, left over from the years of bloody mist, were the sort of thing that made their nation weaker instead of stronger. He wouldn’t stand for it. “Now, gear away. We’re going to have a group spar to see how you all hold up.”

Sakura frowned. “But Hoshigaki-Sensei, you just got back from a mission!”

Kisame made a face. “Don’t call me that. Call me Kisame. Kisame-sensei if you have to. And I’ll be fine, goldfish. I’m a bit stronger than your average jounin. Plus, it was an easy mission, barely worth my time anyway.” He stood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yooooooooooo get hype for this au y'all bc this shit POSESSED ME like I was alexander hamilton and I wrote 22k words in like 12 hours i almost DIED for this fic y'all so that being said, if you like it, please leave me a comment and let me know what you liked and what you want to see more of!! <3  
> if you can't contain yourself to just commenting, I'm also on [tumblr](http://inaweofdiana.tumblr.com/)!  
> I don't have an update schedule atm bc I am currently moving but my goal is to update once a weekish ig??


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta read by [Firestaff](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firestaff/pseuds/Firestaff)!

Kisame faced them down, obviously examining them, sizing them up. Sakura was close to shaking in her sandals. Kisame Hoshigaki was  _ terrifying _ . He was well over six foot. Sakura was the shortest member of team fourteen, but Haku and Chojuro weren’t much ahead of her. Both of them had plenty of muscle on her; not that that in any way made them better off against Kisame.

He was one of the seven swordsmen of the mist. More than that-- he was part of Kiri’s most popular and well-loved legend, one Sakura knew she could never hope to stand up to, no matter how good of a ninja she was. He was carrying the legendary Samehada like it weighed nothing at all. He stood well over seven feet tall and was solidly built muscle. Solidly built  _ blue _ muscle.

She probably weighed about as much of one of his arms did. Chojuro and Haku together might weigh as much as his sword.

“Now, you all can use any weapons you want.” Kisame said, distracting Sakura from her mental calculations. “Let’s keep it easy though, no ninjutsu or anything yet. Haku, I know you probably carry poison, so none of that. But all three of you, attack me like you’d attack an enemy or you have no hope of hitting me. And, since it’s your first day, I won’t even use Samehada.” He shrugged off his massive sword and laid it down gently next to his pack.

Great. Maybe they’d last more than thirty seconds then.

Kisame returned to the center of the training field. His sharp-toothed grin was as unnerving as it was scary. It only widened as he called start. “Begin!”

Sakura hurried back as Haku and Chojuro dove forward. Sakura made a few hand signs to pull mist into the training grounds, one of the simplest techniques in a Kiri nin’s pocket. With only one opponent between the three of them, it would be advantageous of them to have a covering of mist. They only had to keep track of one chakra signature, while he had three to keep track of. Kisame had grown up using this technique though, so whatever advantage they gained from the mist was slim at best.

Sakura was thankful for the adrenaline rush of combat— however staged it was. It helped soothe the savage ache in her right arm where it was bandaged as tightly as she could manage on her own. A fight like this was an all-out physical battle. With her arm out of commission like this, there wasn’t much she could do. She wasn’t sure of how much she’d be able to do even if she wasn’t injured though.

Haku and Chojuro were much more suited to an all out brawl, attacking Kisame in tandem. Haku was striking out with senbon that didn’t pierce Kisame’s skin. He was obviously much more durable than the average opponent. When their senbon failed, they tried the same tactic with their fingers and palms. From the points they were targeting, it was obvious to Sakura that they were attacking pressure points and tenketsu. It didn’t work either. Kisame reared back and-- there was Haku downed, sailing back from a kick in the chest. They landed in a heap a few meters over from Sakura. 

Sakura decided to make a few hand signs and pulled the mists thick over them so they could catch their breath. Under the mist, anchored within it, she spun out a simple genjutsu. It was a notice-me-not, an E-rank genjutsu that a ninja of Kisame’s strength would probably break as soon as he looked at it. She pulled a few exploding tags out of her belt and wrapped them around the hilts of her kunai, working as quickly as she could when moving the fingers on her right hand made her arm hurt with every gesture.

Chojuro was holding his own with Kisame a little better than Haku had. Sakura barely recognized him. To say that Chojuro was shy was an understatement. He was cripplingly shy and easily embarrassed. Sakura had never heard him speak louder than a stuttering whisper and never made eye contact. He stuck to Haku’s side whenever possible and made Haku speak for him. This Chojuro was completely different. His eyes were fixed firmly on Kisame, blunt teeth bared in a snarl by the curl of his lips. He was holding his katana in his right hand and wakizashi inverted in the left, attacking in powerful spinning leaps. His jumps and turns put the momentum of his body weight behind the strikes and it almost seemed to be working against Kisame.

Sakura had to say  _ almost _ because Kisame’s feet were firmly planted. He didn’t budge an inch under Chojuro’s onslaught. He caught every hit unerringly with a kunai. It was impressive, considering how fast Chojuro’s sword strikes were. The way he handled his kunai was more masterful than how Chojuro was handling either of his own swords. The difference in skill between them was enormous. 

Kisame was playing with him.

Then, out of nowhere. he dropped the kunai and reached up and caught the blade of Chojuro’s katana between his palms, stopping his movement dead in the air. He didn’t give Chojuro time to catch up. Kisame heaved, throwing him bodily over himself to tumble across the training grounds.

A violent shiver wracked Sakura’s body as he turned and made eye contact with her. When she jerkily tossed her kunai, they fell woefully short. Her left arm was, apparently, as bad at throwing as it was at aiming. The kunai bit shallowly into the dirt between them. Sakura scrambled back as Kisame prowled forward. She couldn’t give up yet. She pulled out another kunai, holding it awkwardly in her left hand. When Kisame passed between her kunai, she flexed her chakra to activate the exploding tags.

Kisame was a blur after that. Everything was a blur, actually. A blur of motion, a blur of explosions, and a blur of pain in her broken arm that made her vision white out for a moment. When things leveled out, she was laying on her back in the dirt. Everything was hazy through the reflexive tears filling her eyes, but most of what was overhead was blue and white. Funny, she didn’t think the mist was clear enough today to see the sky.

“You alright there, goldfish?”

She blinked a few times and tears streamed out of the corners of her eyes. The world came into focus. Kisame, Chojuro, and Haku were all leaning over her. Kisame and Chojuro looked worried. Haku was frowning, which she was pretty sure was their worried face. “What happened?” She asked.

“I moved to get out of the way of your exploding tags and grabbed your arm to get you clear too.” Kisame said simply.

Her right forearm was ablaze with pain, like it was freshly broken. She sat up gingerly, putting her weight on her left arm. The movement still jostled her right arm and the pain that lanced through it was sharp enough to bring a new wave of tears to her eyes.

“Let me see that arm.” Kisame ordered.

Sakura pulled up her right sleeve, gentle with the cuffs around the slim dowels strapped to her arm.

“Broken?” Kisame asked.

“I think so.” She wiped at her streaming eyes with her sleeve.

“Were you sparring with Okawa?” He asked.

Sakura didn’t have the energy to flinch away from the question. Besides, Kisame had said he didn’t care if they spoke well of the dead or not. She nodded.

“He didn’t get you treatment?” He asked.

She shook her head. She knew that as her jounin teacher he was supposed to, but he hadn’t cared that he’d broken it in the first place. Sakura had asked him to teach her a few things and had only ended up with a broken arm for her troubles.

“Hm.” Kisame gently took her arm and tugged her sleeve down. His fingers were comically large juxtaposed against her arm, but he was deft, pulling it back down into place. “Alright, we’re going to the hospital. This is a good opportunity for you to learn the hospital protocols anyway.” He said as he stood. “Haku, Chojuro, you’re dismissed. Clean up here. We’ll meet tomorrow at the gates at 7am.” He announced.

Sakura got shakily to her feet, keeping her right arm pressed against her stomach to minimize the amount of jostling it underwent. It had been working for the last few days, after all.

“You good to walk?” Kisame asked, grabbing his sword and pack.

She nodded. She didn’t need a ride for a broken arm-- there was nothing wrong with her legs.

“Hey, no shame if you do.” Kisame shrugged. “Once I cut up my arm so bad I puked when I tried to stand up, it hurt that bad.”

Sakura grimaced. “I’m okay.” She said.

Chojuro shuffled up to her, hands shaking. He was holding her kunai, two of them singed and battered, one clean. He held them out to her hilt first.

Sakura smiled in thanks, but it was probably more of a grimace. She took the kunai with her left hand and just dropped them into one of the pouches at her waist. She’d rather that than try to fumble them into her holster.

Chojuro darted away as soon as she got a good grip on them.

It stung a bit, but she knew it was just because he was shy. She told herself that, anyway. What if he really did just hate her?

“Come on, goldfish.” Kisame set a giant hand on her back and guided her away, down the path back towards the village. He followed Sakura’s pace, though it had to be incredibly slow for him and his longer legs. He led her to the gates, into the village, and through the outer two rings to the main shinobi hospital. It was in the center of the village, crammed up alongside the library. Sakura recalled reading that it had started off as a single building that had been built onto. That first building had grown more and spread to several around. Additional levels had been built on more buildings around it, hospital or not. It looked almost like a tumor to her: overlarge and out of place, stretching out over the streets with breezeways and skywalks between different departments. Kisame took her into the main building and led her past the reception desk and emergency wing. He led her straight to the jounin desk, tucked back past the emergency wing and the labor and delivery wing.

A nurse at the desk looked up with a smile that slowly slid off her face as she looked up and up and up the length of Kisame’s massive height. Her mouth hung open slightly as she stared, stupefied. Sakura knew how that felt, but at least she hadn’t been rude about it.

Kisame cleared his throat after a moment.

She flinched and jerked her gaze away. “H-how can I help you?” She asked, clearly petrified.

Kisame sighed. Sakura hadn’t been paying any real attention, but she was pretty sure this was the first time all afternoon that he hadn’t been smiling. “I’ve got a genin here with a broken arm. She needs it healed as soon as possible.”

The nurse looked around wildly. It took her a moment to spot Sakura and she looked relieved. “Oh! Yes! I see! Here, paperwork!” She shoved a clipboard at him, snatching her hand back as quickly as she could.

Kisame caught it. “How long of a wait will it be?”

“Uhh…” She stood and backed away from them. “L-let me just go find out on that.” And she fled down the hallway.

Sakura frowned. “That was rude.”

Kisame sighed again. “I’m used to it.” He said evenly.

Another nurse came around the other corner, holding a stack of charts in the crook of her arm.

Kisame brightened, smiling again. “Oi! Miwa!”

The nurse in question looked up with a severe scowl. She was old. Like,  _ old _ old. Her hair was completely white and her wrinkles had wrinkles. She was shorter than Sakura, with hunched shoulders and gnarled knuckles. “Kisame. Back again, I see. What is it this time?” She barked, stomping towards him. She walked with a cane that rapped against the tile underfoot with every other step. 

Kisame grinned. “It’s actually for my genin. Sakura, this is Miwa. She’s the best medic Kirigakure’s got!”

Miwa rounded the desk and fixed her eyes on Sakura. She looked her up and down, honing in on her arm. No doubt due to the way she was cradling it against her body. “Broken or sprained?” She asked brusquely.

“Broken, most likely.” Kisame supplied. “She needs it healed as soon as possible.”

Miwa eyed her for a long moment before grunting. “Name?”

“Sakura Haruno, ma’am.” Sakura bowed as politely as she could without jostling her arm too much.

“Come with me, Haruno.” The woman dropped the charts she was carrying on the desk and walked away.

Sakura followed hastily. Miwa seemed like the sort of person who didn’t like to be kept waiting, especially on genin who were still wet behind the ears.

Miwa led her down the hall until they came to an examination room. There was a metal table on one side of the room and a sink and a cabinet on the other, along with a tiny writing desk and stool. “Up on the table. Shirt off.” Miwa ordered. “I can get you a gown if you’d like.” She eyed Sakura.

Sakura nodded. “Yes please.”

“Hm. At least you’re polite.” Miwa used the end of her walking stick to flick open the overhead cabinet and pull down a lavender dressing gown. The motion pulled her sweater open and Sakura saw a glint of a Kiri headband around Miwa’s waist. So she was a ninja too. That just made her age all the more impressive. “Open the door when I can come in.” Miwa ordered.

Sakura nodded. She changed as quickly as she could, which wasn’t very fast given she had one hand to work with. She dropped her belt on one end of the table and ended up just draping her turtleneck over it. Leaving her shorts and sports bra alone, she pulled on the dressing gown. Thankfully, the open-backed garment was a lot easier to get on; she just slid it on like a backwards robe. She opened the door for Miwa and hopped awkwardly onto the table. She shivered. The metal table was frigid against her thighs.

Miwa came back in and washed her hands. Sakura appreciated that. “So, you’re one of Kisame’s students. I wasn’t aware he had a genin team.” Miwa frowned at her.

Sakura nodded. “He just got the assignment today.”

“Hm.” Miwa grunted. She dried her hands and hung her walking stick on the edge of the table. She took Sakura’s hands with a gentleness that surprised Sakura given her grumpy demeanor and the way she stomped around. Miwa looked over the bandages critically. “Good wrapping.” She nodded in approval. “Yours?”

Sakura nodded, smiling shyly. “Thank you.”

Miwa grunted and unwrapped the bandages from her arm, along with the dowels. She set it all aside and examined her arm again. This time, she was looking at the deep bruises running up and down her forearm. Rich, vivid purples bled into lurid blues, tinged with gray around the edges. Miwa’s hands glowed green as she ran them over Sakura’s arm, keeping an inch between her palm and the surface of Sakura’s skin. The green glow penetrated the skin and Miwa’s chakra prickled against hers. Sakura had never had someone else’s chakra up against hers like this. Miwa was— Miwa was cycling her chakra to match Sakura’s natural chakra pulse, slipping in alongside Sakura’s chakra like she belonged there. Her chakra was warm against Sakura’s, just a little on the hot side, like poking your toe into a bath that needed more cold water. It stung, just a little.

“Mm. One complete break across both the radius and the ulna. Doesn’t need setting.”

“Ouch!” Sakura couldn’t help but flinch a bit when Miwa’s chakra burned against her.

“Sit still.” Miwa scowled, clenching Sakura’s elbow tight.

“Yes ma’am. Sorry ma’am.” Sakura bit her lip through the rest of the healing. It surprised her how much it hurt. Miwa’s chakra felt white-hot against her and her whole forearm itched like she’d fallen into a pond of itching scum. The physical pain in her arm slowly faded until Miwa drew back.

“There. How does that feel?”

Sakura wiped at her eyes with her free hand, dashing away the reflexive tears that had built up. She flexed her left hand and couldn’t help but smile when it didn’t hurt. She flexed her arm and probed at it with her fingers. “It doesn’t hurt anymore. It’s completely better!” She grinned.

Miwa clicked her tongue at her, tutting at her. “Not entirely. It’s bad for the bone in the long term to speed a healing too much. I fused the bones together and encouraged everything to heal. You’ll want to exercise the limb gently for a week before resuming normal training. You’ll need to eat plenty of calcium: milk and cheese, sesame, sardines, almonds.” She ordered.

Sakura nodded obediently. “How did you do that?” She asked. “What’s that technique?”

Miwa raised an eyebrow at her. “The Mystic Palm. It requires many years of training your chakra.”

Sakura hesitated. “I have— I have great chakra control.”

Miwa lowered her eyebrow before looking her up and down. “Come back when you’re above the 85 th percentile in chakra control and maybe you can learn it.”

Sakura was only in the 75 th percentile. She’d just come back in a few months, she decided. She’d have to go to the library to find some new chakra control exercises that were actually difficult. Healing would be a useful skill to have in the field. She nodded again, smiling. “Yes ma’am.”

Miwa nodded approvingly. “Now get changed. I’ll take you back to your brat of a teacher.”

Sakura’s jaw almost dropped. Miwa was officially the coolest ninja she’d ever met. She was the oldest ninja she’d ever seen, she could heal, and she called  _ Kisame _ , one of the seven swordsmen of the mist, a  _ brat _ . Sakura changed in record time and followed Miwa back to the lobby, folding her bandages from her arm as she did so. And if, as she walked, there was a little spring of excitement in the movement, well-- that was her business, wasn’t it?

Kisame was waiting for her. Sakura was a little surprised to see him, but Miwa wasn’t. She marched straight up to him and prodded him in the navel. It was about as high up on him as she could reach with the difference between their respective heights. “Were you the one who broke her arm?” She asked bluntly.

Kisame winced and rubbed at his stomach where she’d jabbed him. “No. That was her old teacher. I’ve had her for all of three hours.”

“That’s what I thought.” Miwa grumbled. “Good. Treat her well. This one’s actually smart, for a genin. Didn’t fight the healing.” She glared up at Kisame.

Kisame grinned, beaming with those unnervingly sharp teeth. Miwa wasn’t bothered by it. “Of course she is, she’s  _ my _ genin.” He puffed up his chest slightly.

Miwa snorted and turned back to Sakura. “You, he’s set you up to be healed here whenever you need. Ask for me by name, don’t let the lippy girls at the desk tell you any different.” She ordered.

Sakura nodded. “Yes ma’am.”

Miwa stomped off without bothering to say goodbye.

“Thank you, Miwa-obaa-sama!” Sakura called after her, bowing at her retreating back.

Kisame laughed. “Man, that’s completely unfair! It took me months to get Miwa to like me!” He dropped his voice conspiratorially, stooping over to whisper to her. “Maybe she’s getting soft in her old age.”

Sakura couldn’t help but smile. “She’s nice.”

“She’s the best.” Kisame motioned to her. “Come on now. We’re getting dango. My treat.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay SO MANY people liked this and left me the nicest comments and I had a few days off so here's chapter two bc y'all are sweethearts??? I'm so glad there's so many people out here who are enjoying this as much as I am <3 <3 I'm back to moving stuff but if I have time and wifi I'll try to get another chapter up around the end of the week.  
> As always, leave me a comment if you like what you're reading!! <3 
> 
> Next chapter: Kisame and Sakura have a long talk over dango, there's another OC in the form of the waiter at the tea shop, and Sakura gets some new gear!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta read by [Firestaff](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firestaff/pseuds/Firestaff)!
> 
> There were a lot of repeat questions from the last chapter! Here's the answers!  
> -When did their old teacher die?  
> He was on a supplemental Jounin weekend mission (no Genin) that went badly. They discovered him missing, confirmed him dead, and then went through the candidates to replace him. Kisame just happened to be returning at this point. He died probably 2-4 days before the current date in the story  
> -How long was Sakura's arm broken for?  
> She broke it in her last day of training with her old teacher. It was been broken and untreated for roughly 3-6 days before she visited Miwa. It's a long time for an arm to be broken, the poor thing! She's a tough little cookie though!  
> -What's the healthcare like in Naruto?  
> I don't have any actual sources I can pull from canon, but my best guesses on healthcare are the following. Ninja healthcare is subsidized/partially paid for by their village. If their injuries happen on a mission/as a result of defending the village and its interests, their treatment is free. If their injury is a result of training, they have to pay 1/3-2/3 of the treatment. Civilians generally don't have access to healers/medics, unless they have a lot of money. Civilians make do with back alley doctors, herbalists, apothecaries, midwives, acupuncturists, chiropractors, and good old fashioned natural remedies.  
> The alternate answer is: bold of you to assume I know ANYTHING about how my own universe works  
> -Miwa's amazing, are we getting more of her?  
> Oh my GOD, y'all blew me away with how much you all loved Miwa??? She will be back in the future (eventually) as a teacher! She will feature more heavily in the sequels to this fic that I have planned, but I may be able to work in a few appearances from her because the outpouring of love for her was amazing.

Kisame had a favorite little tea shop he frequented. It was called Nishida’s. It was a block over from the main Mizukage and council offices, two blocks down from the Jounin headquarters. It was a nice little spot where a lot of Jounin liked to pop in to work on mission reports and paperwork. The tea here was way better than the crap they stocked in the communal kitchen. Nishida’s was a nice little place, fairly new to the area as well. They’d gotten enough business to expand the storefront into the store next door, so there was ample room and ample privacy. Nishida catered to their shinobi clientele in that aspect, which Kisame appreciated. They also saw enough weird shit that they didn’t bat an eye when he walked in.

“Yo, Kisame!” Ryota waved when they walked in. “Your usual table is open! I’ll grab your tea!”

“Thanks. Two cups today.”

Ryota nodded, glancing over curiously. “You got it.”

“And we’ll get some dango too. What do you want, kid?” He nudged Sakura forward from where she was hidden behind him.

Ryota grinned broadly. “Did you get a genin team?” He asked Kisame.

Kisame matched his grin. “I did.” He patted Sakura on the head. “Sakura, this is Ryota. Ryota, Sakura, one of three.”

“Hello.” Sakura smiled and bobbed in a shallow bow.

Ryota returned it. “And I take it the little lady likes dango?” He grabbed a rectangular platter from overhead.

Sakura nodded, cheeks pinkening at Ryota’s radiant grin that was directed at her.

“Well then, let’s get you set up with a sampler plate! I’ll serve it up and bring it over with your tea!”

“Oh, no, that’s too much!” Sakura interrupted.

“Sampler sounds great.” Kisame nodded. “Come on, it’s my treat, you should be trying to bleed me dry here, kid.” He chivied her along before she could protest, guiding her to Kisame’s preferred table. It was centered on the back wall. It had good sightlines to the street and exits and had enough room to draw Samehada. It also had a rack on the wall where he could set Samehada to keep her from getting in anyone’s way. Kisame dropped his pack and rested Samehada gently on the padded rack.

He turned around and nearly cackled.

Sakura had sat straight down at the table. It was a tall table, in deference to Kisame’s height. He could see her eyebrows and that was it.

“Come on, there’s cushions over here. If we stack enough, you’ll be good.” He snickered.

Sakura pouted.

It took four cushions to pad her up to a reasonable height at the table.

Kisame sat down across from her with a sigh. He’d traveled quite a few leagues that morning and the afternoon had been just as hectic. It was nice to get off his feet.

Ryota brought them their tea in a cute red teapot. He’d brought Kisame one of his larger cups and a smaller one for Sakura. He set out a small pot of honey and poured for both of them. “I’ll be right back with the dango!” He promised cheerily.

“Thanks.” Kisame lifted his cup to him in thanks. He sighed again when he took a sip. Nobody did Oolong tea like Nishida’s did. The Tung Ting blend was one of his favorites and Ryota never oversteeped it.

Sakura gave her tea a polite sip before adding a drizzle of honey.

“So,” He started.

Sakura looked up at him, immediately wary. He wasn’t happy about that. Okawa had done Sakura, and in turn Kisame, a disservice in his mistreatment of her. She was wary of him and her experiences with her teachers said she had every right to be. He’d start simple.

“I’m your new Jounin teacher.” He said.

She nodded.

“When I became your Jounin teacher, you and I entered into a contract. We need to discuss the terms of it.”

“A contract?” She frowned. “I didn’t sign anything like that.”

Sharp little thing. “It’s unspoken, for the most part. Your teammates grew up with ninja, so they know the terms already, but I wanted to talk to you one-on-one and make sure you know everything. Sound good so far?”

She nodded.

“Good. Now, the basis of any genin-jounin contract is: I will train you to the best of my abilities and do my best to keep you from dying. My duties towards you include ensuring you’re well prepared to be of service to the village and maintaining your physical health. Your end of the deal is: you are ready and willing to learn, you listen to me, and you obey my commands without question.”

She nodded. Obedient. A good little soldier.

“Good. Listening to what I tell you will be the difference between life and death.” He said bluntly.

“Here’s that dango!” Ryota interrupted, gliding up with a tray. He set it between them.

Sakura’s eyes went huge at the assortment of flavors and colors.

Kisame raised an eyebrow at Ryota. He knew damn well that the sampler was supposed to be about a third of the size of what he’d brought them. It was lavish, probably two each of twelve different flavors. Each pair of dumplings was beautifully decorated with sprinkles of spices and drizzles of sauce.

Ryota just winked at him, mischievous and obviously unrepentant. “Anything else for you two?” He asked.

“Not at the moment.” Kisame said, nodding politely.

“Thank you!” Sakura chirped up at him.

Ryota gave her a wink next that made her go red.

Kisame snickered to himself and pulled his chopsticks out of the side pouch of his backpack. He gave them a quick wipe with a napkin to get any grit off and snagged a plump green dumpling.

Sakura, blushing furiously, refused to meet his eyes as she pulled a pair of chopsticks out of her kunai holster. They were as pink as her hair with little bunnies on the ends. He pulled out Sakura’s file as he chewed, unrolling it across the table. He snagged a pen and found the skills section. “So.” He said again.

Sakura looked up at him with wide eyes and bulging cheeks.

Kisame grinned at the sight. “Let’s talk about your skills.”

Sakura’s shoulders slumped.

“Looks like you know where you’re lacking.” Kisame said, not unkindly. “But the good news is, the physical stuff is easy. If you want to get better, you need to start conditioning your body and building muscles. Do you think you can get what you need from books or do you want help?” He asked. This would be the moment where he’d see what she was made of. Would she decline his help and wither away in mediocrity for the life of a paper ninja? Or would she accept his help and build herself up? For a little girl that had had a broken arm for at least four days without seeking medical attention, he was pretty sure which way her answer would go.

She thought about it for a minute. He could practically see her flipping through a mental catalogue of books. “I think I need help.” She said quietly after a moment, seeming embarrassed.

Kisame nodded at once. “Then I’m happy to help. My job as your teacher is to help you, so don’t ever feel ashamed to ask me for help.”

She smiled tentatively. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He grinned at her. He was happy enough that he didn’t temper it.

She didn’t flinch at the sight of his teeth.

Kisame made a few notes on the scroll by her taijutsu and kenjutsu scores. “I’ve got a plan in mind for physical conditioning. As your strength and speed progress, your taijutsu and kenjutsu will improve as well. Next: do you know your chakra typing?”

She nodded. “Earth and Water.” She said.

He nodded in approval. “Good. I have a lot of E- and D-rank techniques I can start you with then. If you keep at it, you should be able to grow your reserves a bit.”

She nodded again. Attentive.

“Next up is genjutsu. I’ll be honest-- I don’t do a lot with genjutsu. Never have, never will. It’s not one of my strengths, but it is one of yours. I’m going to find you an alternate teacher to work with on genjutsu.”

She blinked in surprise. “You’d do that?” She asked.

He nodded. “You’re my student. If I neglected a part of your education, I’d be neglecting all of it. I’ll have to ask around a bit, but in the meantime, we can double down on your physical training.” He made a few notes on the scroll. He pulled out a notebook and started writing.

Sakura went back to the dango as he wrote.

“Alright, equipment is next. Cross out anything you already have. We need to get you properly outfitted.” He passed the notebook to her.

She worked her way through the pages. In the end, she only had about a third of the list. She passed it back, looking embarrassed again.

“Did Okawa take you three to the quartermaster?” He asked, thumbing through the pages. She had about what he’d expected. 

She shook her head, eyes downcast. Poor thing probably needed a self-confidence boost about as much as Chojuro did.

“Well, that’s good news for you. Most of this list is standard issue, which means it’s free.”

Her shoulders sagged in relief.

“It won’t be the best quality,” he warned. “but it’ll be serviceable until you can afford to get nicer stuff.”

She nodded.

He grabbed another dango, aiming for one that was less sweet. He chewed as he thought of the best way to broach the next topic. There wasn’t really a graceful or tactful way to do it, so he just jumped right in. “You and your family are nien.” He said.

Sakura shrank back, just a bit. Her eyes were fixed firmly on her teacup.

“Hey, stop that. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, you got it? Your parents came here to give you a better life, don’t be ashamed of their efforts. The fact that Chojuro and Haku’s families were born here doesn’t make their family any better or worse than your family.” In Kisame’s opinion, the whole caste system was stupid, but people who went around saying that were ostracized by the upper rings for wanting to subvert the system and weren’t thanked for their trouble by the lower rings for what they preached but didn’t provide.

She nodded slightly but peeked up at him. “Aren’t you reien?” She asked softly.

“Yeah, I am. But I’m also your Jounin teacher. My job is to give you the tools to make sure you live as long as possible.”

She was watching him intently now.

“I was handpicked to be a teacher for Chojuro and Haku.” He said honestly. “Whoever put your team together” he wasn’t going to say it was probably the Mizukage herself “set them up for success.” But didn’t set you up for success, he didn’t say. “You deserve just as much of a chance as they’re getting.” And she deserved a fair chance. A lot of this conversation was going unsaid, but he didn’t think what she missed would hurt her.

“But I’m getting just as much-- I graduated too!” She protested.

“Not necessarily.” He held up a finger. “When you go home, do your parents teach you survival skills?”

She frowned. “No.”

“How about ninjutsu?”

“No.”

“Taijutsu? Genjutsu? Kenjutsu? Target practice? Anatomy?”

“No...”

“You’re dumber than I thought if you don’t think Haku and Chojuro are getting those things at home.” His words were harsh but his tone was gentle.

She frowned in thought. “I never thought about it like that.” She said after a moment, softly.

“What they’re getting at home and what you’re not getting could be the difference between life and death in the field. It probably would be, if Okawa hadn’t bit it. But the good news is that I’m your teacher now.” Kisame said.

She looked up at him hopefully and smiled.

By the time he got her home, it was almost seven in the evening. They’d gone to the quartermaster and Kisame had gotten what they could standard issue. What they couldn’t, he purchased and kept receipts. Sakura stopped protesting after he explained that he got a stipend for purchasing gear for his students and could use the receipts to get reimbursed for. He omitted the part where it was a pitifully small stipend that they’d blown through at the first stop.

Overall, he outfitted her with a sturdy overnight pack with a bedroll and several tarps. He’d also gotten her a smaller day pack for everyday. He loaded her down with all the kunai, shuriken, and senbon she could carry. He got her a massive first aid kit, camping supplies, navigational supplies, emergency supplies, and a supply of rations. He showed her the best place to get the least offensive rations for as little money as possible. He bought her a proper whetstone and showed her how to use it properly. He got her a lightweight breastplate to wear over her turtleneck and got her several sets of ninja nets to protect her limbs, as well as a set of sturdy set of boots with vents at the bottom to drain away water and a pair of shin guards. He also got a set of body weights for her to wear to increase her speed, stamina, and muscle. 

He also learned that her uncle could make storage scrolls, so she didn’t need any of those. That was also where she’d gotten her exploding seals.

He promptly purchased her a set of inks, brushes, and sealing paper, with orders to learn how. “Fuinjutsu is a valuable skill. Sealing scrolls and exploding tags are the fundamentals, but it can be very powerful depending on how much you can learn.” Considering the brain she had behind that big forehead, she could be very powerful if she applied it correctly. “Plus, good storage scrolls are expensive. You could make decent money if you get good at it.”

Lastly, on their way to Sakura’s house, he gave her a sword. It was one of his, one of the many he had hidden away in a weapons scroll on his belt. It was a wakizashi, well suited to her short height. He’d learned she didn’t have her own sword, had only used the shitty academy swords in training up to this point.

She’d stared at it with wide eyes and an open mouth before refusing. “I can’t! That’s too much!”

He snorted. “Goldfish, I have four more wakizashi sealed away in here. You can have your pick if it’s the color you don’t like,” He teased. “but you need a sword. A lot of my lessons are going to be in kenjutsu, so you need a sword either way. It’s a weak spot of yours, but it won’t be for long, I can promise you that. I’m a swordsman of the mist and I won’t have one of my students running around without a sword.” He was firm on that point. Even if she was the worst swordswoman he’d ever seen, she would still improve by learning from one of the best swordsmen in the world.

She finally acquiesced and put down all of her shopping bags to take it, reverently, with both hands. He appreciated that respect. She slid it an inch out of the sheath to examine the blade and carefully resheathed it when she was done. She tucked it reverently through her sash at her waist.

“Slide it around. If you leave it like that, it’ll hit your legs when you run.”

She nodded obediently, sliding it around to sit at the small of her back.

“Good.” He nodded. He walked her the rest of the way home.

Home for Sakura was a small apartment over a storefront. “Mama, Papa, I’m home!” She opened the front door. The main room was a mess of fabrics, dress forms, and more spools of thread than Kisame had previously thought existed.

“Where were you? I’ve been worried!” A concerned voice heralded a plump woman hurrying in from the kitchen. She squeaked when she saw Kisame, eyes going wide and hand flying to her chest in surprise.

Sakura smiled, dropping her bags carefully to move to her side. “Mama, this is my new jounin teacher, Kisame Hoshigaki! He’s very famous and he’s taking very good care of me! He took me to the hospital for my arm!” Sakura skillfully glossed over the part where Kisame was a bloodthirsty murderer and the part where he was one of the seven swordsmen and the part where he was one of the bloodiest parts of the mist from the last generation. Her mom must be the hand-wringing sort.

“O-oh my.”

“Kisame-sensei, this is my mom, Sayuri Haruno.”

Kisame bowed, though he was already slightly hunched over from the short ceiling. “Pleased to meet you.” He smiled, closed-lipped.

Sayuri was obviously frightened of him, but shook it off and hid it away after another look at her smiling daughter. She bowed in return. “Please take care of my daughter.” She smiled. She was obviously where Sakura got her Uzushio blood; she had bright red hair piled into a messy bun on top of her head. It was full of pens, crochet hooks, and knitting needles, as well as a nasty looking curved scalpel, although that had a plastic cap over the sharp end. The hair was a giveaway as to her heritage, although she may have had some ninja blood in her, to be smiling so calmly at Kisame.

“Of course. She’s in good hands.” He promised.

“Sacchan, you’re b- oh sweet tails!” A man walked in smiling at Sakura, caught sight of Kisame, and promptly tripped over his own feet. And that would be her father, not a drop of ninja blood in his body. 

“Papa!” Sakura went to his aid, helping him to his feet with ease. He had pale blond hair braided back from his face.

He gaped up at Kisame unashamedly. “Well, good golly, Sacchan, I reckon he can teach you the right end of a sword.”

“Papa!” Sakura hissed, blushing.

Kisame couldn’t help but laugh then. “That I can! She’ll be an expert in no time!”

“We’ll leave her in your hands then. Ah, my apologies, I’m Yuichi!” He extended a hand.

“Kisame Hoshigaki.” He introduced himself again, shaking his hand carefully enough that he didn’t crush it.

“Sacchan, we saved you a plate.” Yuichi patted her on the shoulder. 

“Thanks papa.” She smiled. “Thank you for your help today, Kisame-sensei.” She smiled sweetly.

He grinned, closed-lipped again. “You’re welcome. Don’t ever be afraid to ask for help. And remember, we’re meeting at the gates at seven.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dango, shopping, and another OC for all y'all that loved Miwa! Next chapter: some more minor OCs, some cinnamon rolls, and a whole lotta steak. Team 14 interactions coming as well: Haku and Chojuro start to make friends with Sakura and more of Kisame being proud of his new babies to literally anyone who breathes near him  
> Sakura has parents in canon but I don't like them?? and also I forgot they existed until I sent the thing to my beta reader and was like "lol does she have parents?" and he was like "uh yeah actually" so that was cool so just have these parents instead! If it's not clear, Sayuri is from Uzushio proper and Yuichi was a laborer who moved to Uzushio. After Uzushio was destroyed, they both moved to Kiri and settled there!  
> If you liked this, please leave a comment and let me know what your favorite part or favorite line was! Let me know what you're looking forward to seeing! Let me know some team-building exercises team 14 can do because I do actually need ideas for some! <3 <3 <3  
> And a big huge thanks to everyone who has so far liked and commented and subscribed and bookmarked and supported me and this fic! I've never had a story blow up like this and I'm so happy that there's so many of you out there reading this and loving this and supporting this! It really means a lot to me!! <3 <3 <3  
> Moving is still underway (thanks for the well wishes!) so I'm thinking another chapter in another week-ish! <3 see y'all then!  
> I'm also on [tumblr](http://inaweofdiana.tumblr.com/)!  
> 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta read by [Firestaff](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firestaff/pseuds/Firestaff)!
> 
> Several of y'all seem to be confused that people from Uzushio would move to Kiri. Historically, when a land/region/whatever is conquered by an enemy force it's not uncommon for citizens to move into that enemy's land. The majority of the common populace don't actually really care who rules them, they care more about whether they can find enough work to support their family or not. One of the more major reasons why Sakura's parents moved to Kiri though is because Sakura's dad had family in Kiri prior to Uzushio's downfall. It hasn't been mentioned in the fic yet, but it was a contributing factor in their decision. I may wave my hands flagrantly at canon but there is actual thought behind the changes I'm making.
> 
> Enjoy the chapter! <3

Sakura stayed up late that night organizing and cleaning her gear. She put her whetstone to good use by giving all of her weapons a quick sharpen. She had managed to get a decent amount of sleep before her father woke her up at 6:30 to get ready. Team Fourteen was meeting at the gates, so she had a much shorter walk than the others. She didn’t need much time to get ready, which gave her a few precious extra minutes of sleep.

She pulled on her shorts and turtleneck, quickly buckling her breastplate on. She pulled her knee pads on and topped them off with her shin guards. Next she put her elbow pads on under her sleeves and pulled her gloves on. She also strapped on the little training weights Kisame had gotten her onto her wrists and ankles. It was best to start off her physical conditioning as soon as possible. The weights were just small bands with seals tucked inside them. She could change the weight by exchanging the seals in the pockets on the inside of the bands. They fit snugly enough around her wrists and ankles that they wouldn’t slide around. She activated the weights with a small flare of chakra. They were lighter than she’d expected, but she supposed that Kisame knew what he was doing. He’d said to start small, so she’d start small. It would probably become more obvious as the day went on and her muscles slowly tired, she thought. 

It was winter and her window was frosted, so she pulled on a wool wrap skirt over her shorts and belted everything in place. After that, she slipped her wakizashi through the back of her belt. Her belt at her waist was much heavier than normal, thanks to all of her new gear and her new daily packing list.

 _Pack every day like she could be dropped in the middle of enemy territory._ That had been Kisame’s first lesson. The first lesson was usually the most important. Kisame was an incredibly strong ninja, one of the strongest in the entire village. She wouldn’t be surprised if he was actually stronger than the Mizukage. If being well equipped had saved Kisame’s life, it would certainly save Sakura’s.

She shouldered her small day pack and noted it sat comfortably on her upper back, not impeding her access to her belt. Then she slipped quietly out to the kitchen.

Her father smiled at her from the table. His work apron was untied at the top, hanging down over the waistband to keep him from getting flour on everything. “Good morning.” He said, softly enough to keep from waking her mother.

“Morning!” She whispered, opening the fridge. She pulled out her canteens of water and slipped each one into a side pocket of her pack.

“There’s your lunch there.” Papa motioned.

“Oh, thank you!” She’d forgotten to pack one the night before. She tucked the wrapped bento into the top of her pack. 

“And breakfast!” He motioned to a foil tin. “I got enough for you and your teammates. I figured a thank you to your teacher would be nice.”

She grinned. “Thanks papa.” She grabbed the tin and pecked him on the cheek. The tin was still warm. “I should be back for dinner, Kisame-sensei said we’d just be training today.”

He nodded. “Stay safe!” He handed her a thermos of hot chocolate.

She grinned again and gave him a quick hug. She pulled her mittens on over her gloves and pulled her hood up as she stepped outside. She could see her breath when she breathed and was thankful for her extra layers. As she walked, she peeked into the tin and grinned when she found cinnamon rolls. Her favorite! Three of them were the regular, massive cinnamon rolls the bakery sold, larger than her two fists together. Two were even larger, more than twice as big as the normal sized ones. No doubt those were for Kisame! He was already at the gates when she arrived. She was five minutes early.

“Good morning!” She smiled brightly, hurrying over.

Kisame turned from where he was talking to the gate guards and gave a sharp-toothed grin. “Good morning!”

He looked different today. For one thing, he wasn’t wearing his heavy mission pack, just his giant sword. For another, he was wearing different clothes. Yesterday he’d been wearing a long sleeved shirt under his kiri vest, with long, straight-cut black pants and boots. Today, he was wearing a sleeveless gray shirt under his flack vest which was open over his broad chest. He was wearing the standard issue camouflage pants, though they were very short on him. They ended just past his knees. It was overall more casual, less like he was about to fight someone to the death. She also noticed he was carrying a large object over one shoulder that was wrapped in brown paper and tied with string.

Kisame turned back to the gate guards. “I have a genin team now.” He bragged when Sakura reached his side. He set his free hand on her shoulder.

“Oh wow! That’s so amazing! Congratulations, Kisame!” The woman at the gate leaned forward. She had light brown hair in a long braid down her back. Her smile was framed by bright blue lipstick.

“Wow, finally got you a team.” The man beside her grinned. He had a thick shock of blond hair and a scarf pulled almost all the way up to his nose. His smile was visible only in his eyes.

Kisame nodded proudly. “This is Sakura. Sakura, this is Toshio, the blond, and Takera, the brunette.”

Sakura bowed slightly. “Pleased to meet you!” She chirped. 

“Ah, here’s the other two now.” Kisame smiled. “Almost late, you two.”

“Good morning.” Haku smiled brightly. They were wearing a pale purple travel cloak and a fluffy white scarf.

Chojuro bit his lip and gave a short, jerky wave. He was wearing a navy travel cloak and a navy beanie.

“Chojuro, Haku, this is Toshio and Takera. They’re the usual first shift gate guards. You’ll be seeing a lot of them. Stay on their good sides.” He advised. “Toshio, Takera; this is Chojuro and Haku, the other two in my cell.”

“Wow, you’ve got a good looking cell!” Takera smiled brightly at the two new arrivals. “You’ve got the Mizukage’s kid and the Demon’s kid! Nice score!”

Her eyes glossed right over Sakura when she looked back at Kisame. So did Toshio’s.

Sakura sighed internally. It was just to be expected, she supposed. She’d gotten used to being overlooked and ignored in favor of her teammates since being put on a cell with them. Yesterday was the first time she’d really ever been noticed, but she supposed that was too good to last.

“Alright goldfish, let’s get going.” Kisame motioned towards the gate. “I got us checked out already. See ya!” He nodded to Takera and Toshio and started down the path to the edge of the island. After about ten yards he paused and sniffed at the frosty air. “Is that… cinnamon?” He frowned.

“Oh!” Sakura gasped. “I forgot! My dad sent cinnamon rolls!” She bent down quickly to set down her thermos of hot chocolate and peeled back the foil on top of the tin. Steam curled gently into the air from the hot pastries.

“Oh!” Haku leaned in with a smile to smell.

“Damn, I thought something smelled good!”

“The big ones are for Kisame, as a thank you for your help yesterday!” She pulled out a kunai and cut gently between them to let them separate. 

“Oh man, these look great!” Kisame used two clawlike fingernails to slip between the crowded pastries to pull one free.

“Your father made these?” Haku asked, pulling out a second and passing it to Chojuro.

“Yes!” Sakura smiled. “He’s a baker!”

“Ah, he’s not a ninja?” Haku pulled one free for themself.

Sakura shook her head, doing her best to keep it raised and not duck it in shame. She remembered what Kisame had said the day before. She should be proud. “He’s a baker in the outer circle. They have the best bread and pastries in the city!” She bragged.

“Is your mother a ninja?” Haku asked.

She shook her head again. “She’s a seamstress. Look, she made my travel cloak!” She lifted an edge.

Haku leaned in, inspecting it. “Oh! This is very well made. She’s very good!” Haku said, clearly impressed. “Zabuza couldn’t mend a sock to save his life.”

Sakura giggled. “She makes most of my clothes. She made my skirt too!” She nudged a fold of her cloak out of the way.

Haku cooed. “It’s cute! Is it wool?” They asked.

“Come on, let’s keep moving.” Kisame laughed, taking his second cinnamon roll, leaving the last one for Sakura. 

She pulled it out and crumpled the foil in on itself with her free hand as she walked. “Yeah, it’s merino wool, it’s super warm!”

“I like the ruffles. Maybe I can get Zabuza to order one for my birthday.” Haku frowned, finally biting into their cinnamon roll. “Mm!”

“Good, right?” Kisame laughed, mouth full.

“The best!” Sakura agreed.

“S-S-Sakura…” 

She looked around to her other side. Chojuro looked like he had just seen a puppy get kicked. “Y-y-your... th-thermos.” He held it up with a shaking hand.

“Oh!” She’d left it behind when she’d started walking again. “Thank you Chojuro!” She accepted it. “My mom would have been mad if I’d lost it!” She smiled.

Chojuro nodded, ducking his head. He shoved a bite of cinnamon roll in his mouth, probably to avoid having to talk anymore. She’d noticed his incredible shyness at the academy, but working under the strict and rather pompous Okawa-sensei had made him even shyer. Knowing this, she didn’t take it personally and instead hurried to finish her cinnamon roll before it could get cold. 

After a half hour of walking they reached the edge of the island. Another ten minutes brought them to a rocky part of the beach that Kisame had apparently been looking for. He dumped the parsel on his shoulder down into the sand.

“Now! The three of you! Lay out all your gear for me again.” He ordered.

Sakura smiled, knowing she was going to _ace_ this. 

Ten minutes later, Kisame was examining their gear.

Sakura had almost twice as much as Chojuro did, and another third as much as Haku did.

“Much better, all of you.” He nodded. “Haku, Chojuro, I want to see both of you with bigger first aid kits tomorrow. Do any of you kids know how to suture?”

Sakura raised her hand. Neither of her teammates did.

“I figured as much. We’ll learn that sometime this week. It’s important that you all know basic first aid. You’ll be sewing yourselves up often enough to need it. Haku, you should get some water purification tablets.”

“Sir, I am proficient with the water purification technique.” Haku explained with a neutral smile.

“What if you’re out of chakra?” Kisame asked, hands on hips. “What if you’re in a situation where any flicker of chakra will alert pursuers? They’re a necessity, Haku.” He scolded gently. “Chojuro, I’d recommend getting a glasses repair kit.”

Sakura added that to her mental list of things to add.

“Out of the three of you, though, Sakura has the best chance of surviving alone in enemy territory. Good job, all three of you.” He nodded. “Now, I did your jobs for you today, but in the future, you’ll need to break in your fishing kits.”

She made a mental note to add a small fishing rod to her day pack as well.

“Put your gear up and then grab a steak.” 

As they packed up, he unwrapped the parcel he’d brought. It was a huge chunk of raw meat. Or rather, several large chunks of raw meat all mashed up together until Kisame peeled them apart. There were six large slabs of steak, beautifully marbled and dripping blood. 

“There we go.” Kisame stood and pulled off his shoes. “Oh, yeah, get ready to go wading.” He added. He was utterly unfazed by the temperature. 

Sakura sat and pulled off her skirt, boots, socks, shin guards, and kneepads. With a mournful sigh, she unfastened her cloak, but didn’t take it off yet. The wind coming off the ocean was viciously cold. She’d stay snuggled into it as long as she could get away with.

Next to her, Haku was pulling off their kimono with a shiver so that they could wiggle out of their leggings. They were wearing shorts underneath, like Sakura. Chojuro was rolling up his pants as best he could next to them, and blushing whenever he looked over at Haku or Sakura and their exposed legs.

Sakura shivered when she finally pushed her cloak off, trudging over to the paper with the steaks on it. They each grabbed one and joined Kisame at the shore. Sakura winced when the icy surf rolled over her feet. Just after seven in the morning, it was still dark, so the weak sunlight hadn’t had a chance to warm the ocean yet. With the thick mists that built up around the village, it was likely some of this water hadn’t felt the touch of the sun in months.

Kisame looked like he was in his element as he waded in upto mid-thigh. He led them into the water and then out, out, out-- until the mists were thick enough that Sakura could barely see the shore behind them. They stopped when they got to the edge of the shallow waters. Sakura could tell because there was a stark difference in color between the water around her and the water in front of Kisame. 

“Now, goldfish, listen up, this is important. I’m going to introduce you to my summons.” He was holding a thin brush and an inkstone in one hand.

“You have a summoning contract?” Sakura asked with interest. She knew the Hoshigaki clan was renowned for their work with sharks, but she didn’t know they held a summoning contract. Summoning contracts were incredibly rare.

“Yes. It’s been passed down through my family for generations. I use my summons for lots of things: tracking through the water, assistance in combat, even for advice. But today, I’m going to make a deal with them. When we’re on missions, sometimes the three of you might be separated from me or your teammates. It might be intentional, it might not be.” He shrugged his huge shoulders. “But either way, you’re going to have emergency backup. I’m giving all three of you an emergency button for my summons.”

Sakura and Chojuro gasped in unison. She’d never heard of anything like this!

“Now this does _not_ mean that _you_ have a summons.” Kisame said clearly. “They’re still my summons and they’ll still be using my chakra, so I’ll know if you’re dicking around with them. This is for use in emergencies only, when you’re in dire danger and about to die and need an escape, got it?”

All three of them nodded.

“Good.” Then Kisame nicked his thumb on one of his sharp teeth, made a few hand signs, and slammed his palm down on the water. There was a burst of smoke that was quickly dissipated by the ocean breeze. There was nothing there-- nothing except that the water in front of Kisame was even darker than it had been a moment before.

Sakura gasped when the shark surfaced. Beside her, Chojuro shook and Haku stiffened in surprise.

That was the biggest shark that Sakura had ever seen! It was more than 100 meters in length from the point of the nose to the end of the massive tail and it looked like it was 30 meters tall from its belly to its dorsal fin. For all of Kisame’s height, even he looked puny next to it. Sakura felt about as large as a grain of sand. She remembered reading somewhere that sharks could beach themselves in order to reach prey on land. A typical shark could beach itself ten feet or more given the right conditions. How far could this massive shark fling itself given the urge?

She shivered, but it wasn’t completely due to the cold.

Kisame bowed low to it, nose almost dipping into the water. “Good morning, Queen Chie!” He called.

“Little Kisame. Good to see you again.” Her voice was deep and rumbling. Sakura could feel it in her chest, even at this distance. The massive shark swam closer to Kisame and butted her bottom jaw against his body.

Kisame laughed and threw his arms wide to plaster himself against her in the closest approximation of a hug he could give. “Chie, these are my pups!” He turned and gestured to the three genin behind him.

Sakura hastily dropped into a deep bow. If Kisame was calling her a Queen, she’d bow to her like she was the Mizukage! Beside her, Haku and Chojuro quickly did the same.

“Mmm.” Chie rumbled. “They’re polite.” She said approvingly. “They look more like chum than pups though.”

“We were all chum once.” Kisame shrugged. “Stand up, you three. Come say hello.”

Sakura swallowed, hard. She didn’t want to, but if Kisame said for her to, it had to be safe. She was the first of the three to step forward. Haku and Chojuro followed after only a second more of hesitation. Sakura waded further into the ocean, teammates at her side. Mid-thigh on Kisame was more like waist high on her and her teammates. It was freezing, but she was so nervous she hardly noticed.

Kisame nodded approvingly. “Now, all of you, cut your hand a bit and put a bit of blood on your steak before you give it to Queen Chie.”

Sakura blinked. Weird, but okay. With her free hand, she drew a kunai halfway out of the pouch on her thigh and reached down to nick her thumb on the exposed edge. She winced when it sliced deep into the pad of her thumb, deeper than she intended. She squeezed it over the steak in her other hand before popping the cut in her mouth and putting pressure on it by pressing it against the roof of her mouth.

Chie opened her mouth and Sakura blanched. 

That was a lot of teeth. Her mouth wasn’t even all the way open, but it was still a huge maw that made the back of Sakura’s neck prickle with terror.

She threw the steak in hurriedly, not wanting to keep Chie waiting. Haku and Chojuro threw theirs in as well.

Chie hummed deeply again as she closed her mouth. In the water like this, the hum traveled through the water to Sakura and traveled up her legs to reverberate in her stomach and chest. It was scary and soothing all at once. “Mmm. Interesting. I know who I’ll pair them with.” Chie glided back in the water. With another puff of smoke, there were more sharks in the water in front of Kisame. One had a more rounded nose with a butter yellow body that faded into a pale belly. The second had a more square nose, their body a deep, lovely purple that changed to stark white at their belly. The third had a sharp, triangular nose and their body shifted from rosey pink at the top to a soft orange at their sides, belly a creamy white. All of them were roughly three meters long, about as broad as Kisame. Each of them were still huge, but next to Chie’s massive body they looked more like minnows.

“Ah! Kin! Ume! Momo!” Kisame looked delighted.

“Kisame!” The purple one, Ume, darted towards him with terrifying speed, butting against his chest with a splash.

Kisame fell on his butt into the water with a laugh, throwing his arms around her.

“Ume, Ume, don’t hog him!” Kin, the buttery yellow one hissed, shoving against her sister.

“Kisame!” Momo, the gradient pink to orange one, stayed back a bit, but was wiggling happily in the water.

Kisame was completely at home in the water, not seeming to notice the frigid temperature. He slipped and slithered among the sharks like he was one of them until he had greeted all of them. Finally, he stood up again, dripping wet and grinning broadly. “Now, Kin, Ume, Momo, these are my pups! Black one’s Haku, the pink one’s Sakura, the blue one’s Chojuro. Chojuro’s shy, so don’t fuss if he doesn’t talk much.”

Chie rumbled again. “Momo will partner with Little Haku. Ume will partner with Little Chojuro. Kin will partner with Little Sakura.”

The sharks dove forward.

Sakura jerked back a step, surprised, but Kin stopped dead in front of her. Kin had large, dewey black eyes that reminded her of a kitten. She reached out but stopped. “Can I-- Can I touch you?” She asked. She almost asked Kisame, but she knew that would be rude. Kin was perfectly capable of responding for herself.

“Yes! I love gill scritches! Please, please, please, Sakura!” Kin wiggled forward.

Sakura tentatively reached forward and petted her sides gently, testing how hard her skin was. It was cool and firm and a little rough, like sandpaper with a fine grit, so Sakura gently scratched her nails along the length of Kin’s gills.

Kin sighed blissfully and butted up against Sakura’s chest. It was hard enough and she was heavy enough to shove Sakura back. 

“Oh!” Sakura gasped as she stumbled back. Just like Kisame, she fell back on her butt. However, because she wasn’t seven feet tall, she was completely underwater now. She could feel her upper body erupt into goosebumps from the cold. Hands on both of her elbows grabbed her and pulled her upright. She spluttered when she broke the surface, gasping for breath.

Chojuro and Haku were pulling her upright. Sakura hastily pushed her legs underneath herself, digging her feet into the sand. “Thanks.” She gasped, shoving her wet hair out of her face. Her headband had come loose and she quickly dragged it down around her neck instead so it wouldn’t fall off if she fell again.

“Sorry! I just got so excited!” Kin nuzzled up to her again, far more gently this time. “Are you okay?”

Sakura laughed. “Yeah, I’m good! Just a little cold!” She leaned into Kin’s weight to counter it, scratching gently at her gills. On either side of her, Chojuro and Haku were interacting similarly with Ume and Momo. Kisame was watching over them all with a smile. Sakura realized then that this was what she’d been missing with Okawa as her teacher. This feeling of welcome, of camaraderie blooming between her and her teammates… This was where she was meant to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus the last uses of the word "pups" that you'll probably ever see me use lmao but also Sakura's totally making heart eyes at these sharks and Kisame is a proud shark dad. Not pictured is Kisame summoning Chie the night before and talking to her in depth about his team and asking advice and Kisame's brother and sister teasing him and giving him the idea for the emergency seals. Kisame's family is already very excited to meet his team when he's only had them for 8 hours lol  
> Next chapter: training with the sharks and some teambuilding exercises! Hopefully I'll be able to dig some into that good good Sakura&Haku&Chojuro. Maybe an appearance from one of Kisame's family?? Get hype!  
> Don't forget to leave me a comment and let me know what you liked! Also hmu with any teambuilding exercises you have, I'm still having trouble thinking up enough bonding activities! <3


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta read by [Firestaff](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firestaff/pseuds/Firestaff)! Bless you my dear <3

Sakura, Haku, and Chojuro applied their blood to the three other steaks and each genin then gave their steak to their assigned shark. Kisame explained that this was so they could familiarize themselves with their scent and taste. In cloudy waters, it would help the sharks find them. In a combat situation, it would keep them from being attacked. 

Kisame mixed a few drops of each of his students’ blood with sea water on his inkstone and used the mixture to create a seal in the crook of their right elbow. He seemed familiar with the process, painting out jagged lines with a precise hand. Kisame’s chakra in the mixture was sharp and a little rough against Sakura’s chakra when it was her turn, but his chakra settled into barely more than a blip once the seal was finished. Once the last mark was done, the ink dried right before her eyes, the glossy sheen fading to matte against her skin. It was a jagged, angular seal, shaped like an arrowhead. It sort of reminded her of the shape of Kisame’s gills. 

“There.” Kisame brushed his thumb across the ink and looked pleased when it didn’t smudge. His skin was warm against hers. “Good. Chojuro, get over here.” He dunked the inkstone and brush underwater to clean them of Sakura’s blood. From the small amount that Sakura could remember about bloodwork in sealing, she new it would be really bad if her blood got mixed in with Chojuro’s.

Sakura shivered from the cold as Kisame worked on Chojuro’s arm. Haku, next to her, rubbed their hands together briskly. Kisame glanced at them, but didn’t say anything until he was done with Chojuro’s seal. “Don’t you three know how to regulate your temperatures?” He asked.

Sakura, Haku, and Chojuro all shook their heads.

Kisame tutted. “What do they even teach at the academy these days?” He grumbled. “Alright, regulating your temperature with your chakra isn’t hard, so listen up. Do all of you know how your chakra cycles? Through your coils and stuff? Some of you might flow clockwise, some of you might flow counter-clockwise.”

They all nodded. It was all fairly rudimentary information.

“Good. To warm yourself up, you just cycle it faster. It can be kind of tricky, but it’s a good exercise for chakra control. Just push your chakra along faster than your natural flow and your body and blood flow will hurry to keep up with it, so you’ll get warmer. It’s a good technique because it doesn’t expend chakra, so you’re not losing out on resources.” Kisame gestured to his body as he spoke, tracing the lines of his own chakra coils as an example. 

Sakura focused inward as he spoke, prodding mentally at her chakra. It took her a moment to pick up the pulse of it. She knew that her chakra flow was counter-clockwise and she just felt for a moment as it thrummed through her coils at regular intervals. It wasn’t unlike a heartbeat, but a heartbeat that she could control. Sakura had never thought to try altering her chakra flow, but it wasn’t hard to speed it up. She just gave it a little nudge and a little pull and then encouraged it to go. Her chilled limbs immediately began to warm as her pulse elevated to match her chakra. 

“It can be tricky, so don’t be upset if you can’t get it right away.” Kisame was watching over them.

It hadn’t been hard at all, Sakura thought to herself. She peeked to her right. Chojuro was biting his lip, staring at his raised hands in front of him. On her left, Haku was standing still, scowling with their eyes closed. Sakura looked back at her hands. Had she done it wrong? Was it  _ supposed _ to be hard? Maybe she just needed to cycle her chakra faster?

She barely needed to prod at her chakra flow this time, just willing it faster. The warmth around her chakra coils turned into heat. It chased away the remaining chill in the layers of fat and muscle in her body. Then the heat turned outward. Sakura began to steam gently as the water around her legs and the water trapped in her clothes and hair began to evaporate. Sakura raised her arm and watched curls of steam waft off of her sleeve with fascination.

“Huh.”

She looked up.

Kisame was staring down at her. He wasn’t smiling. He looked almost puzzled.

She resisted the urge to hide behind her hair. She wasn’t a baby anymore, she was a ninja now. Ninjas didn’t hide behind their hair, only babies did that. “Did I do it wrong?” She asked nervously.

Kisame tilted his head. “No, you did it right. I’ve just never seen anyone get it that fast before. Usually it takes a few minutes. Just keep in mind that it’s not good to run your chakra that fast for too long, it can stress your heart.”

“Oh!” She immediately slowed her chakra flow, letting her racing heart slow.

“It’s fine for short bursts, but running it a little slower for longer is healthier.” He added. “But no, you did it exactly right. Good job.” He smiled and ruffled her wet hair. “How about you two?” Kisame glanced at Haku and Chojuro again.

Haku was scowling at their raised hands, narrowing their eyes at them like it was a threat. “I believe so. It is hard to maintain without focus.”

“It’ll get easier.” Kisame nodded like he’d been expecting that. “Chojuro?”

Chojuro nodded shyly.

“Any problems with it?”

Chojuro shook his head.

“Good. Haku, this is a good one to do while you’re meditating. The more you do it, the easier it gets. Like I said, it’s tricky.”

Haku nodded, eying Sakura and Chojuro. They looked jealous for a brief moment before their face smoothed into an impassive smile.

“Alright!” Kisame clapped his hands together. “Now for the fun stuff! We’re going to play a game! It’ll get your blood pumping!” Kisame grinned down at them. “We’re going to get you used to working with Kin, Momo, and Ume, got it? Good. Everyone grab a fin.” He gestured to their shark guardians. They’d been waiting patiently in the water while Kisame sealed and instructed them.

Kin immediately darted over to nudge against Sakura. The obvious thing seemed to be to grab Kin’s dorsal fin, so Sakura bent and grabbed it tentatively with both hands. The chill of the water was still sharp but it was easy to ignore with her thrumming chakra filling her with heat.

“Put your arms around my fin so you’re lying on my back.” Kin advised. 

Sakura reached around with one arm and leaned until she was lying along the length of Kin’s back. Kin was much bigger than she was and Sakura wiggled awkwardly until she had a leg on either side of Kin and could hold onto her with her legs as well as her arms. Then Kin was surging into movement below her. “Oh!” Sakura gasped.

Kin was  _ fast _ . 

Sakura automatically latched onto Kin with her chakra, just like how she’d adhere to a wall. She pressed chakra to her palms and was shocked when Kin’s chakra rose to meet her. Kin’s chakra grabbed onto Sakura’s and meshed with hers to hold her tightly in place against Kin. It felt like she was returning Sakura’s chakra-hold by a factor of ten. Sakura didn’t release her chakra but tugged at her hands. They didn’t budge from Kin’s fin. Sakura curiously increased her chakra output and was surprised when Kin’s grip on her increased exponentially. When Sakura lessened the flow of chakra, so too did the grip between them. Kin seemed to maintain that ten-to-one ratio with her, meaning that Sakura could easily change how tightly she was holding onto Kin.

“You got that quick!” Kin giggled as she slowed to a stop. “You’re a natural!” 

Sakura looked up and scraped her wet hair back from her face. “That’s incredible! You have so much chakra!”

“Yeah! All us sharks share it! I’ve got plenty to use to make sure you’re not wasting energy!” 

Sakura sat up, moving gingerly. “Am I hurting you?” She asked.

Kin laughed. “No way! I can barely even feel you! You weigh about as much as a couple of mackerel! Just don’t put your flippers in my gills and you’ll do fine!”

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to be uncomfortable!” Sakura shifted gently until she was sitting just behind Kin’s dorsal fin with a leg on both sides of her body.

“You’re funny! It takes a lot more than that to hurt one of us sharks!” Kin tittered with laughter. “Look, those slowpokes are finally catching up!”

Chie’s massive form was mostly underwater again, just a hump of her back and her enormous dorsal fin above water. Kisame was standing on her back with his hand pressed against her dorsal fin. He looked every inch the fearsome and powerful ninja with the power of sharks at his command. Then he beamed at Sakura and he was her smiling teacher again.

“You got it easy!” Kisame laughed. “I knew you would! Nice job!”

Sakura beamed. “Kin’s so cool!” She burst out.

Kisame laughed and jumped down as Chie rose up out of the water again. Instead of standing on the water like she expected, he jumped straight into it and started treading water. Haku was sopping wet where they were astride Momo. Chojuro on Ume looked a little frazzled and was clutching onto Ume’s dorsal fin tightly.

Sakura looked around. They were just outside the main bay. Sakura could see western lighthouse on the shoreline closest to them. This far out, the mists were starting to burn off a little bit in the early morning sun. 

“All three of you figured out the chakra trick with the sharks, good job.” Kisame announced. “So now it’s time to practice with them. You’ll be practicing a bit of shark-surfing to get used to moving with a partner. Kin, Momo, and Ume are some of the fastest sharks that I’m contracted with, so they’ll be able to pull you out of tight spots as long as you can manage to hang on. But just practicing maneuvers is boring, so you guys get a mission.” He raised his hand up from the water to show them a red ball. He tossed it to Chojuro.

Chojuro caught it easily.

“Your mission is to keep it away from me.” Kisame grinned and then stopped treading water. He slipped underwater and vanished in seconds.

Sakura stared.

Haku stared.

Chojuro shrieked and flailed as he was dragged off of Ume. 

Haku managed to lean over enough to snatch the red ball from Chojuro’s hand as he went under. “Momo, go!” Haku urged. “Sakura, go long!”

Sakura flattened herself against Kin and slapped her hands to Kin’s back to stick there with chakra. “Go!” She urged.

Kin exploded into motion.

Sakura’s chakra was the only thing keeping her on Kin’s back as she sliced through the water. Salt spray and wind stung at Sakura’s eyes as she struggled against the air pressure to raise her head. She saw a blur of red in the air. “Left!” She squeaked.

Kin dove left and Sakura flailed for the ball. Her hand-eye coordination wasn’t amazing at the best of times, let alone when she wasn’t clinging to a shark who was dragging her through the water trying to catch a moving target. It wasn’t a surprise when she missed the ball. 

“Stop, stop, we passed it!” Sakura yelped.

Kin stopped and backtracked so abruptly that Sakura’s head smacked into Kin’s back with a wet smack. Ouch. Sakura shook off the brief daze and grabbed the ball from the water. She was a second faster than Kisame and his hand rose up from the water where the ball had been a split second before.

“Go, go, go!” Sakura urged Kin, sticking to her with a hand and a knee both charged with chakra.

Kin charged again.

“Towards Haku and Chojuro!” She ignored the wind and salt in her stinging eyes to look for her teammates. Kin’s turns were sharp and hard and Sakura kept losing her balance until she managed to get her legs under her, sticking to Kin’s back with her knees and the balls of her feet and her left hand. The five points of contact were enough to stabilize her while Kin maneuvered to try and stay ahead of Kisame.

“He’s almost got us!” Kin reported gleefully.

“Cho!” Sakura shouted, instinctively pushing a thread of chakra into her voice. Her voice boomed and echoed across the water, clearly audible over the noise of the waves and wind. That was interesting. She’d never done that before. She didn’t have time to think on it though-- she hurled the ball as hard as she could, pushing chakra into her arm to enhance the throw. Tails. She’d thrown it too high!

Ume, with Chojuro on her back, exploded out of the water to give Chojuro the height he needed to catch the ball. He caught it and nearly fell off Ume when she landed in the water again. Chojuro hunkered down against Ume’s back as she burst into motion. Fins of water sprayed up on either side of her body from her speed.

Sakura couldn’t believe how fast Kisame could move under the water. She couldn’t spot his shadow in the shifting waves and he didn’t have a dorsal fin that crested the water, but he was moving fast enough to leave a wake. She could track where he’d been, but she couldn’t see where he was now. But it didn’t look like he was heading for Chojuro.

“He’s trying to intercept!” Sakura shouted, threading her voice with chakra again. “Haku, fake him out! Cho, back towards me!”

They threw the ball back and forth to each other, missing more often than not as they got used to accounting for the motions of the sharks and water. They improved as they got better at predicting the movements around them and more comfortable riding their sharks. Once they got the hang of that, Kisame started jumping from the water to intercept the ball in the air, forcing them into closer quarters with each other. They hastily figured out how to pass the ball off to each other directly-- leaning out over the waves to connect their hands between them. Sakura was glad for her long sleeves because otherwise she might have scratches from Haku’s long fingernails on her wrists.

By the time Kisame called a stop, all three of them were exhausted. They were also sopping wet from Kisame pulling them into the water. Sakura’s palms smarted from catching Chojuro’s fastball, from Haku slapping the ball into her hands, and from pressing against Kin’s coarse skin. Her ring finger and middle finger on her left hand hurt where she’d jammed them. Her eyes were burning and Sakura could feel tears streaming down her face from the wind and sea spray. Haku was similarly affected, but Chojuro’s close fitting glasses protected his eyes. Annoyingly, Kisame looked invigorated when he waded up out of the water; not at all like he’d been doing intensive cardio for four hours.

Kin was kind enough to ferry Sakura almost all the way up to the beach. Sakura rolled off and stumbled when the sand underfoot didn’t sway like the oceans did. It took her a few seconds to shake off her sea-bearings and get her land-legs back. She turned back to Kin once she had her legs underneath her again and crouched down beside Kin in the water. She scratched at Kin’s gills with her nails, nuzzling against Kin’s broad nose with her much smaller one.

“Thanks for all your help.” She smiled.

Kin butted against her affectionately. “I had so much fun! I haven’t played keep away in forever!”

“It was fun, huh?” Sakura giggled. “I don’t think I’ve ever had that much fun training!”

“Alright, say bye, goldfish! These three are hungry!” Kisame patted Kin’s tail.

“It’s almost dinnertime!” Kin agreed. She booped her nose against Sakura’s forehead one last time and then slid back in the water. Momo and Ume joined her. Kisame dismissed the three of them and with a soft puff of smoke, they vanished.

“And I bet you three are hungry too.” Kisame motioned them towards the shore.

“Starving.” Sakura nodded. “I bet I could eat a whole sturgeon!” 

“I could eat  _ two _ sturgeon.” Haku countered.

“Th-th-three.” Chojuro whispered from Haku’s other side as they slogged through the shallows.

Sakura giggled. “I don’t think I could manage more than one and a half!”

“I didn’t think any of your lunchboxes were big enough for sturgeon.” Kisame teased. “But we can go catch one if you’re still hungry after lunch. But we have one more lesson before we eat.” Kisame stopped walking once they were all out of the water.

Sakura pouted. “But I’m hungry now!” She whined.

Chojuro nodded in agreement.

“Do you really want to eat while you’re soaking wet?” Kisame asked.

Sakura glanced down at herself. Oh. Right.

“That’s what I thought.” Kisame smirked. “Okay, watch closely. This is super easy; it barely qualifies as a technique.” He made three hand signs. “Waterskin technique.” He enunciated.

The water dripping off of him slowed. Instead, all the water on his arms flowed together and beaded up. After a second, she could see the water in his shirt and pants and hair also gathering and pooling. He pressed his hands flat to his chest and all the water on his body flowed to his hands, bubbling around them in a single huge drop of water. He pulled his hands away from his chest and the water followed. Then he tossed the globe of water back to the sea and then set his hands on his hips. He was now perfectly dry-- His hair didn’t even look damp.

“Now you three try.” Kisame motioned to them. He made the hand signs again for them.

Sakura copied the motions to set them in her memory but didn’t imbue them with chakra yet. 

Chojuro slid through the signs with ease and mimicked Kisame’s motions. He was at ease with his chakra, completing the unknown technique with an ease that made his skill evident. Haku did the same, looking perfectly comfortable with the unfamiliar technique. 

Sakura didn’t have much luck with ninjutsu. She’d never had enough chakra to repeatedly perform a technique to perfect it. Most of the simple techniques they’d learned in the academy hadn’t come easy-- only water walking and the illusory clones had come naturally to her. She still struggled with the campfire-starting technique and had trouble with the general techniques that were supposed to be adapted to an elemental typing.

Sakura couldn’t put it off any longer. She flicked through the hand signs, flexing her chakra in time with the movements in her chest. She pressed her hands to her sternum and focused on the flow of chakra. A thin gloss of chakra was settling across her body, wrapping around herself. She realized she could feel the water in her clothes and hair against her chakra. She tugged curiously at the technique and the water went with it. The water was sticking to her chakra. Interesting. Sakura drew her chakra into her hands, dragging the water from her clothes, hair, and skin with it. It worked for her just like it had worked for Kisame, leaving her with a globe of chakra infused water. She didn’t let it go though, not wanting to waste what precious little of her chakra she had. She kept a careful grip on her chakra as she let the water trickle away from her hands; it splashed against her bare feet as she gently teased her chakra back into her body. Waste not, want not, right?

When she looked up, Kisame was looking at her with a frown again. “I… was it supposed to be that easy?” Sakura asked. She didn’t  _ think _ she was in trouble, but…

“You said you’re a water typing, right?” He asked.

She nodded.

“Then yes. It’s generally pretty easy to manipulate your typing. Are you…” He paused. “Is that your first water technique?”

She nodded again, fidgeting slightly. Sakura knew that Haku and Chojuro probably knew lots more techniques than she did. Haku even had a bloodline ability, they probably knew tons of special techniques for it.

“Alright. Well, good job.” Kisame nodded approvingly and patted her on the head. 

She smiled tentatively up at him and he beamed down at her. 

“Kisame.” Haku was looking up the beach.

Sakura turned to look too.

A woman was walking down the beach towards them. She was making no move to divert around them and her gaze seemed fixed on Kisame. She was wearing a Kiri plate on her forehead and wearing a lavender Kiri vest over black pants and a blue wrap shirt with a plunging neckline. She was also wearing three swords on her hip.

Kisame snorted. “I should have known!” He called. He crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head with amusement.

Sakura examined the woman curiously. As she got closer, Sakura could see that the woman was older. Her hair was streaked liberally with gray, most notably at the temples. There were crows feet around her eyes and laugh lines bracketing her smile as she beamed at Kisame. In her hands was a wrapped bento. “You forgot your lunch.” She said, holding it out to Kisame. She was quite a bit shorter than he was, roughly 5’8” to his 7’4”.

“You hid it from me.” Kisame scoffed, accepting it.

“I did no such thing. You must have forgotten it in your excitement.” The woman’s smile was just as sharp as Kisame’s even though her teeth were human-blunt. “Now, since I came all the way out here, you should introduce me to your team.” 

Kisame snorted again. “I should have figured. This is Haku, Chojuro, and Sakura. Goldfish, this is Mitsuba.” For all Kisame’s harsh words, his tone was remarkably light. He was amused, just playing at irritation.

“Hello.” Mitsuba smiled at them.

“Hi.” Sakura nodded politely.

“Hello. It’s nice to meet you.” Haku smiled sweetly. That smile seemed to be their default expression.

Chojuro waved jerkily as he sidled closer to Haku, avoiding eye contact with her.

“I’ve heard a lot about you all already. Did Kisame take you out with the sharks already?” Mitsuba asked.

Sakura and Haku nodded together. Sakura glanced sidelong at Kisame. Summons were generally a secret and it was rude to discuss them without permission. She didn’t know how much she could say. 

Kisame just laughed. “I thought you had meetings all day?”

Mitsuba shrugged. “I’m taking a long lunch.”

“You don’t want to keep Mei waiting!” Kisame shook his head, mock-disapproving.

Mitsuba giggled. “She won’t mind. In fact, I think she’ll be glad to hear how they’re doing with you. Is he treating you well?” She asked, looking at Haku and Sakura again.

Sakura nodded immediately. If this woman was on the council, it was important to put forth a good word for Kisame’s sake. “Kisame’s been very nice.” She said. “Very hospitable and very educational.” She defended.

Haku nodded in agreement. “He’s been kind and thorough.” They added.

Mitsuba looked delighted and grinned up at Kisame. “They’re sweet!” She cooed. “Oh, just darling.” She smiled at Haku, Sakura, and Chojuro. Chojuro was slowly sliding behind Haku. “You’ll have fun with them. I think Chie will have good things to say as well.” She stepped closer to Kisame. “Come on now, give me a kiss before I go. Mei won’t wait all day for me.” She opened her arms.

Kisame stooped down and hugged her gently, pecking her on the cheek as he went. “Go do your job for once.” He teased. “I should just be glad Fugu didn’t come, huh?”

“He tried.” Mitsuba smiled brightly. “He lost.”

Kisame laughed.

“Have a good day, goldfish.” Mitsuba grinned at them again and waved as she turned. She picked up speed as she walked and then she was gone between one step and the next.

Sakura turned and stared at Kisame. “Who was  _ she _ ?” She asked for all of them.

Kisame chuckled and ran a hand through his hair. “That was my mom. I think she--”

“That was your  _ Mom _ ?” Sakura interrupted with a gasp. She couldn’t reconcile tall and blue Kisame with Mitsuba. She was average height and average color and definitely lacking any of the shark-like features that made Kisame so distinctive.

“Your Mother?” Haku asked at the same time. Their head snapped around to try and catch sight of Mitsuba, even though she was probably long gone.

“You should have told us!” Sakura grabbed at Kisame’s arm and tugged at it, trying to get her point across. “I would have been nicer!”

“She’s the Jounin commander!” Haku added. “We could have learned from her!”

“Hey, I’m supposed to be the one teaching here, not her!” Kisame laughed, shaking Sakura off with ease. “Now come on, I thought you all were hungry.”

“But that was your Mom!” Sakura followed after him. Chojuro followed at her shoulder, tacitly agreeing with her.

“Do you think we could catch her?” Haku stared down the beach.

Kisame guffawed. “Maybe in twenty years or so! You’ll have a chance in hell at catching her once she’s in a grave!” 

“I sh-sh-should h-have… said h-h-hello.” Chojuro whispered mournfully from behind Sakura.

“Yeah!” Sakura nodded. “Chojuro would’ve said hello if he’d known she was actually important!”

Kisame cackled. “Who did you think she was?” He demanded gleefully.

Sakura shrugged. “Some dumb council member.”

“‘Some dumb council member.’” Kisame echoed. “Oh man. Fugu’s gonna laugh til he pukes.” Kisame laughed.

“Who’s Fugu?” Sakura added. He’d mentioned him before.

“My little brother.” Kisame shrugged, settling down on a large rock and starting to unwrap his bento.

“You have a brother?” Sakura demanded. Were there just two Kisames wandering around? She would have noticed that, right?

“I-i-i-is he--?” Chojuro poked at Sakura’s belt where her wakizashi was strapped.

“Is he a swordsman too?” Sakura asked, fairly sure that’s what he was prodding her to ask.

“Of course he is, all the Hoshigaki are swordsmen.” Kisame pretended not to notice his three students hovering over him. “But he doesn’t specialize in swords like I do. If you want another Hoshigaki swordsman, you’d be better off talking to our sister, Ayu.”

“You have a sister too?” Sakura tried to picture a third Kisame next to the first two in her mind. Three Kisames now and one of them with long hair. She definitely wouldn’t have missed that, right?

“Yep. She’s a weapons master. Her and Mom really get into it since Mom uses three swords and Ayu uses every other weapon under the mists.”

“Your mom uses three swords?” Sakura couldn’t handle this. Her brain hurt. “How does that even work?”

“Th-three sword st-style!” Chojuro chirped over Sakura’s shoulder.

“Yep, three sword style.” Kisame agreed, popping a bite of food into his mouth. “Mm! Why is it that leftovers are always better than when it’s fresh?” He asked. His grin was wicked. He absolutely knew he was torturing them like this.

Sakura flopped down onto another rock as Chojuro stuttered out questions about the three sword style. Haku still looked like they wanted to chase down Mitsuba. Sakura wondered if she was the only sane one on this team. If she was, she wouldn’t be for long-- ninja weirdness was infectious, judging from what Sakura had heard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Suggested listening: the Ponyo sountrack because that's what I've been writing to. Just in case you wanted to know what kinda vibes I'm going with for these three lil baby sharks  
> Appearance from Kisame's mom!! She's the Jounin commander here in Kiri! She's getting on in years though, so she generally stays inside the village. She likes grilled fish and smoothies! She loves her husband and her kids very much <3 She's obviously from outside the clan but she kicks ass so don't you forget it. Three sword style stolen shamelessly from One Piece sorry Zoro  
> Ty all for your continued love and support <3 <3 <3 it means a lot to me that so many people are enjoying and engaging with something that I'm having so much fun making <3 <3 I hope you all are staying safe and healthy!  
> Moving is uhhhh almost done jesus god plz let it be over soon. I don't think I have the next chapter written yet for once?? So maybe expect an update in like a weekish? probably like some good ol team bonding if I can think of any good exercises that won't drag on for 18 chapters lmao but gods who knows though that lack of energy really be hittin this week BUT comments help to motivate me?? So leave a comment and let me know what you liked and what you're looking forward to! <3 <3


	6. Chapter 6

Sakura added a few items to her gear after that first day of training with the sharks; a pair of gloves and a pair of goggles. The gloves were open at the ends of the fingers and strapped securely at her wrists. They were made of sturdy leather that would withstand wind and surf alike. The plates of metal on the back of the hand would also deflect weapons. The goggles were clear-- they wouldn’t impede her vision in the mists-- but had the option to slide a second, tinted lens into place if she ever needed protection from the sun. The frames and strap were the same red as her Kiri plate band. She took to wearing her goggles on her forehead for easy access to them with her Kiri plate around her neck protecting the vital tissues there.

The next day, team 14 met at the training ground Kisame had led them to on their first day. It was a short walk outside the city limits of the main village. There was a bit of a hike to get up to it, the path overlooking the west side of the outer ring of the village. There was a decently sized spring, beautifully landscaped with picturesque rocks, snuggled up against the rock of the mountain along the north side of the grounds. The side of the mountain was mossy, with dangling vines. There was a small creek trickling out from the spring, running along one side of the training ground, providing ample access to water. The main area of the training ground was a large, flat open space, carpeted in thick, plushy moss. There were several wooden posts around the edges, each one affixed with targets of varying sizes. The south side of the training ground was a gentle slope down to the path up and the east side of the training ground was a sharp drop to the sea below.

The sun was rising in the east, painting the training ground in early morning sun. Sakura appreciated the weak rays that were peaking through the thick mist; she was bundled up in her travel cloak again. When Haku and Chojuro arrived, Haku was wearing their thick cloak as well and Chojuro had opted for an extra sweater over his turtleneck along with a thick, ugly scarf, and a knobbly, ugly hat.

“Good morning.” Sakura smiled shyly from where she was leaning against one of the target poles.

“Good morning.” Haku smiled sweetly at her. They had been decent enough to her over the last week or so, since Okawa died. In the academy, they’d been some of the top students. Sakura had scored well on paper, was in the top of her class in academics, had probably been put with them because of that. A little intelligence never hurt a squad-- the brighter the better for the children of some of the village’s best ninja. Or had it been her low physical scores? Get rid of the riff-raff nien as soon as possible to focus on the village’s crown genin.

Haku and Chojuro had never paid her much attention, the two of them friends already when they entered the academy. With Chojuro’s crippling shyness and Haku’s frosty demeanor for things they didn’t care for, they had remained an insular pair. Sakura hadn’t had any friends at the academy. She’d been there to learn and to work hard. Her work ethic had won her a bit of respect, but nobody wanted to be friends with a first generation nien. There was nothing to be gained by being her friend, so nobody bothered. At least she hadn’t been bullied for being different. No. Because then the other students would have had to pay attention to her. It was better for them to ignore her entirely, to let her flake out without a support system.

When she was put on a team with Haku and Chojuro, she’d been initially hopeful; they were both such good ninja already. Maybe they would get to be friends and she could learn from them. That brief hope had been squashed when Okawa introduced himself to Haku and Chojuro and ignored Sakura entirely. Their Jounin teacher was obviously sucking up to Haku and Chojuro because of their familial connections and ignoring Sakura for hers.

Haku had been pitying. Chojuro had been a bit upset, had tried, stuttering, to protest against him. He’d gotten a beatdown in a spar and then a lecture on the importance of segregating himself from nien-- like her status was some sort of disease that he could contract.

Okawa never looked at her twice, only referring to her by last name to order her to spar with Chojuro or Haku. Then he would yell at Sakura for being weak when he hadn’t taught her anything and then yell at Haku or Chojuro for going easy on her when she was already thoroughly beaten.

She’d been relieved when she’d heard Okawa had died. Then she’d felt bad for feeling relieved. Her broken arm from the week before was a constant, savage ache in her makeshift splint. She didn’t feel so bad when it hurt like that.

But then--

Then Kisame had become their new teacher. She’d been briefly terrified. Who wouldn’t be? He was the no-tailed demon of the mist, one of the masters of water releases, one of the legendary seven swordsmen-- he was larger than life and it wasn’t just his height. The sword he carried probably weighed more than Sakura, Chojuro, and Haku all together. The Hoshigaki clan was extremely powerful and influential. He was close to the Mizukage. Chojuro idealized him. Haku was on a first name basis with him.

Everything about him said that he would look down on her and scorn her like so many other reien, like so many other ninja, like so many other of her  _ teachers _ and--

And--

And then he hadn’t. Sakura thought she might like this team. Kisame’s words to stand by her were fresh in her mind, a compliment to Haku’s smile and Chojuro’s efforts to include her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> anyway yeah I'm still here! moving went well and is still going well and should be done by the end of october! I'm back to usual updates hopefully? I'm going to try to stick to weekly, but don't be surprised if it's every two weeks! I'm taking like 23 credits this semester and I barely have time to eat, let alone think of my dearest Sakura Haruno turning into a deadly badass murder baby. if you're reading this, thanks for all your patience between july and now! I know 3 months is a long time but it feels like i just posted chapter five last week!  
> This chapter unbeta'd as my beta was asleep and I didn't actually think id get a lot done today, but I wanted to slip yall a little introspection and worldbuilding before the action/training montage next chapter! next chapter will probably cover a few months as we start getting closer to something I know y'all have been looking forward to-- the chunin exams!  
> Are y'all excited to see Konoha with Minato as Hokage? How about Naruto being a big brother? Or what about a Senju clan that's not dying with Tsunade? How about the Senju clan stepping in to council proceedings and helping to restructure the village? How about Sarutobi doing something useful instead of being an asshole? What about Sasuke raised into a happy, healthy, vibrant clan with a loving older brother and a million obnoxious cousins? Or maybe the changes made to the team 7 roster? because IM excited, oh my gosh, im so excited i can hardly stand it! I'm so excited to share a happy Konoha with you all!! I shouldn't say more than this though!  
> But back to the chunin exams-- I've rewritten them so you don't have to read through events where you already know what happens! It's not all set in stone yet. I'm working on finalizing the individual showcase matches now and let's just say I'm open to suggestions...  
> Leave me a comment and let me know what you liked or tell me your Konoha theories/hopes/dreams/what you'd really love to see if xyz character had lived or if xyz event hadn't occurred!! <3 hope you all are safe and well <3 <3


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, apparently school kicked my ass way more than I thought it would, so I hope y'all are ready for as much content as I can squeeze out before the next semester starts  
> questions:  
> Do I have a specific species in mind for Kisame's summons? Yes, actually! Chie is absolutely a megalodon and then Momo, Ume, and Kin are shortfin mako sharks because they're fast. Some other shark species I have in mind that I don't think I've introduced yet are Bull Sharks, Tiger Sharks, and Great White sharks for some of Kisame's battle sharks, Sandtiger sharks for nocturnal missions, a Whale shark for the one they use to travel long distances, Cookiecutter sharks for support for the battle sharks and also probably to help train his new genin babies, and Nurse sharks and Zebra sharks for carrying messages and some of the advisors.  
> Hyuugas? I haven't given them much thought as of yet, but I do have a vague plotline laid out for some of the ways Kiri (and our favorite goldfish) might shake things up. I'll just say I'm wicked excited to see how Haku and Neji interact   
> Itachi? Oh ABSOLUTELY. Kisame without Itachi feels almost as wrong as Itachi without Kisame!!  
> Orochimaru? I have some really fun plans for him that I'm still fleshing out. Hopefully he'll make an appearance at the Chunin exams, but I may not have the time!!  
> More OCs? They're in development! Next chapter should bring us at least a few new OCs as well as some canon characters who haven't appeared yet! <3

On their second day, they sparred again. No weapons, no ninjitsu, just taijutsu. Sakura found that she was outclassed before the rest of her teammates were even done warming up. So Kisame did something a little unconventional. He would work with one of her teammates while the other worked with her. He said the best way to learn was by teaching. 

“The best way to learn to be better is to teach someone else how to be great.” He informed them.

He traded out Haku and Chojuro so that each teammate spent an equal amount of time with her. Then he’d trade in himself and let the other two spar while he worked with her. At first, Sakura felt bad that she was holding Haku and Chojuro back, but they didn’t seem to be mad about it.

It was hard for her to get a read on Haku, stoic and impassive as they were. They asked her several questions about her training style before looking at her and shaking their head. “It is not surprising that combat is an area where you are weak. The fighting styles you’ve been taught are inadequate for you.”

Sakura tilted her head. “What do you mean?” She asked.

Haku pointed over at Kisame and Chojuro. Chojuro was attacking Kisame with a short sword and a kunai. His attacks were fast and aggressive. Kisame was dodging his hits and laughing, letting Chojuro’s strikes connect with the air or ground. When Chojuro’s strikes hit the dirt, his weapons left deep gouges from the force behind them.

“The bulk of ninja are close combat specialists. This is what is required in many battles and works well in most missions. For most ninja, this is natural to them as their bodies are weapons.” Haku explained methodically. “When Chojuro is on the battlefield, he fights from the front line, leading the charge, because he is powerful and direct.” They were very matter-of-fact. They looked back at Sakura from Chojuro. “You are weak. You would die on the frontlines of a battlefield.” The inflection in their voice didn’t change at all.

Sakura flinched slightly.

Haku grimaced, shifting from foot to foot. “I apologize. I do not… I am not very good at… relating to people. Zabuza is very blunt with me. I forget others are not used to that.” Haku dipped their head slightly. They continued hastily when Sakura clasped her hands uncomfortably over her stomach. “But yes, you are weak, but that is not a bad thing.” 

Sakura stared at them in disbelief. “Seriously? A ninja has to be strong!”

Haku fidgeted a bit as they thought for another moment. “There are many different kinds of strength. Yours is not physical.”

“But all ninjas are physical!” They were making no sense.

Haku nodded. “Yes. Physicality is an aspect of being a ninja. You do need to become stronger, but your strength will never be physical. You cannot fight how Chojuro fights.” Haku said, gesturing to Chojuro again.

Sakura was so confused. “But that’s how I fight.”

Haku smiled slightly, tipping their head to one side. “Yes. That is how you have been taught to fight. That is why you are bad at fighting.” 

“So, wait, hang on.” Sakura raised her hands between them. “So, you’re saying I’d be good at fighting if I had a different way of fighting?”

Haku nodded, smile widening just a touch. “Yes. You understand now.” They sounded pleased. “You are very smart, Sakura, that is your strength. Once you learn how to fight with your brain, instead of striving for a style that doesn’t work for your body, I believe you will be a formidable opponent.”

Sakura considered that for a moment, slowly lowering her hands to her sides. “So… hit smarter, not harder.” She summarized their analysis and advice.

Haku nodded. “Precisely.”

And with that, Haku began to teach her attacks she already knew-- but with their way of moving, the attacks were completely different despite being the exact same action. A block with her arm, sweeping her forearm up in front of her face was the same movement in both ways. The difference was in the timing. Instead of catching Haku’s fist on her forearm, her movement was a fraction of a second slower. This made the side of her forearm strike Haku’s wrist, directing their strike to the side of her head. With just a seconds difference, the power of the strike was redirected to air rather than absorbing the hit with her body.

It was stupid how much sense it made, made her feel utterly incompetent and oblivious for not realizing it sooner. She picked up on it quickly, especially when she and Haku began to spar in slow motion. The two of them moved together like they were moving through syrup. Haku attacked her with exaggerated movements, clearly choreographing their blows. They also began to explain their body language, telling her how to read the shift of their muscles-- a shift in preparation could tell her exactly what they were about to do. In turn, knowing that gave her the information she needed to kill them as efficiently as possible. 

The style of fighting she learned from Haku was so different than what she was used to. It dodged around attacks instead of blocking and redirected attacks rather than attack directly. It let Sakura’s flexibility and speed put her on an equal footing with someone that was larger and stronger. The force behind a strong blow was enough to make her opponent wrong-footed if she slid past a hit rather than block it. 

“If my opponent is moving past me” Haku explained, gesturing to an invisible attacker. “I know where they will be. If I know where they will be, I can allow them to attack themself with my weapons.” Haku flicked their hand and a senbon dropped into their palm. It was twenty centimeters long, razor sharp on each end. They held it slightly out from their body and motioned to Sakura. “If you ran past me right now, this would puncture your bowels and liver.” They said, returning to their matter-of-fact voice they’d used when they analyzed her earlier. “If you did not die immediately from exsanguination, your perforated bowels would cause infection and peritonitis. That is a precursor to sepsis. If you are deep in enemy territory, this would kill you just as surely as a direct strike to your heart.” They gestured. “Because I have extensive anatomy knowledge, I would be able to drive this through your stomach to sever your spinal column, paralyzing your legs. You would then be unable to flee or seek medical attention, ensuring your death that much faster. There are many ways of killing. Who is to say this corpse is more dead than that one?” They smiled at Sakura, but instead of being warm like their earlier smiles, it was sharp and cold.

Sakura shivered. It would have been almost mean if it had been directed at her, but instead it seemed… conspiratorial. 

“The difference” Kisame interjected, striding towards them. “is that if you leave them alive, they can still attack you. It might buy you a few seconds, but always go for the kill shot if you can make it.”

Haku turned that smile on their teacher. “I never miss.” They said sweetly, eyes and eyebrows arching into cheery curves.

Kisame snorted and ruffled their bangs. “You can’t scare me with that.” He dismissed.

Haku giggled, the sharpness around them relaxing. “Are you ready to fight?” They flicked their hand again and two more senbon fell into their palm.

“Ready when you are, kid.” Kisame grinned.

Haku’s next movement was blindingly fast, sharply different from their exaggerated slowness they had shared with Sakura.

Kisame was slower, but only barely. He laughed as he pulled a senbon out of the fabric of his vest. “Missed me!” He taunted, flicking it aside.

Chojuro slogged up to Sakura, breathing hard. His face was speckled with dirt and sweat that were slowly mixing into mud on his delicate features and glasses. He wiped his face on his sleeve and stood up straight after a moment. He didn’t look at Sakura for a long moment, watching Haku and Kisame pounce at each other. Then he cleared his throat and twisted his fingers together. “I-i-i’m sorry.” His voice was barely a whisper. “For h-how O-o-oka-awa tre-treated you.” He was wringing his hands now, twisting his fingers in a manner that looked painful.

Sakura hadn’t been expecting this. She almost didn’t know how to respond. Almost. 

She reached out and grabbed his hands, tugging them apart. “Hey.” She smiled at him when he looked nervously up at her, meeting her eyes for the first time. “Okawa was Okawa. You’re you. You’re better than him.” She said simply.

Chojuro looked at her for a long moment before he nodded. Then he dropped her gaze. “S-so… Kisame said i-it looked like-- looked like Haku w-was working with you on… on d-defensive move-movem-ments?”

She nodded. “They said I’d be better with a less direct style than you have.” She summarized vaguely.

Chojuro nodded, probably understanding far more than she understood with just that. “S-so I think I m-might have s-some at-att-tacks?” Chojuro offered tentatively.

Sakura nodded at once. “Sure!”

Chojuro drew one of his swords, his wakizashi, and motioned for her to do the same.

He walked her slowly through several simple attacks that would work well to supplement the style Haku had begun teaching her. They all focused around using her opponent’s momentum against themself and using her body’s size to build leverage. Chojuro’s voice grew stronger the longer he talked about swordfighting and the longer he didn’t think about Sakura or his nervousness. It was cute, the way he’d suddenly remember she was there and then blush and stutter for a few moments before refocusing on his blade.

Even with his nervousness, his shyness, and his stutter, it was obvious he was extremely knowledgeable about close combat and sword techniques. More than knowledgeable, he was also passionate, starting to smile a bit here and there when he would demonstrate or Sakura would do a movement correctly. 

Like Haku’s teachings, this style was very different from what she’d learned at the academy. It was the same basic motions and principles, but the application of the tiniest changes made the same moves completely different. The back part of Sakura’s brain was already analyzing everything, starting to calculate out the movements in relation to her speed. It was a good thing too, because soon Kisame came and changed out Chojuro, telling him and Haku to go spar. Kisame grinned at her and Sakura smiled back. Her smile faltered slightly when his grin only widened.

“Alright, let’s see what you’ve got for me today!” He cracked his knuckles. “You can use any weapons you like, but to make things fairer, I’ll fight with bare hands. Remember Sakura, you must come at me with killing intent if you even want to land a blow on me.” And then he was a blue blur of movement that Sakura only barely managed to throw herself out of the way of with a shriek. 

Despite her inexperience, Kisame was brutal. It was scary and embarrassing in equal measures-- she could feel the power behind his attacks and knew it was nowhere near his earlier power. Thinking of how strong he was, how he could accidentally crush her with only the tiniest of efforts, was petrifying. Thinking of how weak she was in comparison, how she couldn’t even land a scratch on him, was mortifying. The only good aspect of the situation was that at least dodging around Kisame was less work than blocking his attacks altogether. 

By lunchtime, all three of them were covered in dirt. Kisame laughed at them and told them since they were already covered in dirt, what was a little more? They filled their afternoon with D-rank missions, digging in frozen dirt to start getting the roads in and out of the village ready for winter, digging in frozen dirt to unearth the last of a wintered crop, and digging in frozen dirt to drive a well deeper. It was hard work, for all of them. Sakura was thankful for her gloves when she saw Haku’s hands had started to blister in places, more used to skillfully balanced ninja tools than rough-cut laborer’s tools. 

“Are you alright?” Sakura asked the fourth time she caught Haku discretely wiping their hands on their pants.

Haku fisted their hands quickly and nodded with a cheery smile.

Sakura huffed. “Let me see.” She held her hands out.

Haku sighed and held out their hands to her, deliberately palm down.

Sakura grabbed their wrists and flipped their hands over. She grimaced almost immediately. Haku’s fingers and palms were calloused with use due to years of training with weapons-- but all of their calluses were in the wrong spots to protect their hands from shovels and picks they were using. There were blisters forming on their fingers and several blisters across their palms that had already burst, weeping blood and serum.

“C’mere.” Sakura dragged Haku off to the side where their packs were. She rinsed their hands quickly with water and then used gauze from her pack to wipe away the blood and dirt. She dabbed a little bit of disinfectant on each blister site and then sealed each one with an oil-based antibiotic to keep them clean. She wrapped each finger and palm securely with gauze. “There.” She nodded in approval as she tucked her supplies away.

Haku flexed their fingers carefully. “Thank you.” They said.

“Now here.” Sakura stripped her gloves off and stuffed them into Haku’s hands. “These will keep them clean and intact.”

Haku stared at her for a moment, perplexed. “I couldn’t.” They held them out to her.

Sakura made no motion to take them back. “I’ll take over on the shovel for a while, you can take the rake!”

“Sakura, no!” Haku protested.

“Your hands need a break.” She pointed out, trotting over to snatch Haku’s abandoned shovel up before they could. “And I’m more used to this stuff anyway!” She added.

“R-really?” Chojuro’s question was almost a whisper.

“Yup!” She nodded. “I helped my uncle dig a basement over the summer.” She braced a foot on the top edge of the shovel, balancing on one foot. She jumped up and used her body weight to drive the spade through the frosted ground to the base of the shaft. “It sucked.” She added.

Chojuro huffed out a startled laugh and hastily hid his smile behind one hand.

Haku let out an inelegant snort. They were holding Sakura’s rake like it was a staff. “Your technique does seem… learned.” They said.

Sakura giggled. “Experience is good for something, I guess.” She shrugged. 

Chojuro mumbled something and Haku let out a short laugh on the tail of another snort.

“What?” Sakura tipped her head. 

Chojuro looked imploringly at Haku but Haku shook their head with a grin. Chojuro’s shoulders slumped and he braced his hands on his own shovel.

Sakura hastily busied herself with her shovel, prying up the dirt and ice.

“I s-s-said-d ‘w-wish Kis-same’d-d use s-some’v h-his ex-exp-exp-perience t’ help.’” Chojuro mumbled just loud enough for her to hear.

Sakura laughed, surprised. “Yeah, I wish.” She agreed.

“Come on, goldfish!” Kisame yelled from further down the path. “Sometime today!” Kisame was hauling palettes of supplies for the road repairs.

Sakura tossed her shovel-full of dirt and gravel into a nearby pothole and made a face at him when he turned his back.

Chojuro smothered a giggle and helped her fill the pothole. 

From there, Sakura’s life fell into a schedule. Early morning conditioning before she met her teammates for D-rank missions for the rest of the morning. They would have lunch at their training ground, and then train. They would work for two hours on “general ninja skills” like chakra exercises, trap-setting, cooking, tracking, strategy, gear maintenance, accuracy, anatomy, even geography and history. Kisame’s history lessons were a lot more fun than the academy ones. He didn’t shy away from any of the gory details and prefaced the  _ really  _ interesting stuff with “I think this is technically classified, so don’t tell anyone, but…” Some days the general ninja skill was going out on the sea and playing tag with each other or with Kisame’s summons, like they had that first day.

The next two or three hours would be spent on different techniques. Two days a week they focused on taijutsu and kenjutsu, two days a week they focused on genjutsu, and two days a week they focused on ninjutsu. All three of the genin had at least one chakra typing in water, which was lucky for them. Kisame had a mastery of it and was slowly walking them all through his E- and D-rank water techniques. Whenever Haku pressed for more advanced techniques, Kisame gave them the same firm answer each time. “You need a solid foundation to build on. You need to understand everything from the ground up. I know you may know some of these techniques already or even instinctively, but Sakura and Chojuro might not. It’s important that you all get a firm grasp on the foundations before you build up from there.” It was nice of Kisame to pretend that Chojuro needed instructing. His skill with water release was incredible, even though he was only a genin. It was to be expected of the Mizukage’s ward.

Haku had their wind type as well, which Kisame did his best with. He would bring a lot of reference scrolls and pour over them with Haku on the rare days that they were doing different things. Those were also the days that Haku would get a chance to work on their family’s snow and ice type techniques that Zabuza had passed on to them from their clan. Kisame was still strict on not letting them do anything too advanced, though. On those days, he would also work through E- and D-rank earth techniques with Sakura, since that was her second typing, like his. On those days, he would also work with Chojuro to show him the best ways to combine his swordsmanship with his water releases, since he didn’t have a secondary typing-- though he did have an intense interest in learning anything he could from the swordsman of the mist. 

After those two or three hours, Chojuro and Haku would usually head home. Sakura usually stayed behind to work one-on-one with Kisame on whatever was giving her the most trouble, usually her taijutsu or kenjutsu, though sometimes conditioning or genjutsu. It only took Sakura two months to work through all the basics of genjutsu that Kisame knew by heart. After that, he started bringing scrolls and books to pour over with her as they figured a new technique out together, same as with Haku and his wind techniques.

After that, Sakura would go home and eat dinner with her family, around six or seven at night. After dinner, three days a week, she would go next door and pester her uncle to teach her sealing. She quickly learned how to make storage scrolls and exploding tags, and moved on to barrier seals. Seals were fascinating to her. It was intriguing that there was no limit to what she could do with them, as long as she was smart about it. Seal work relied more on her brain, on calculations and logic, than how much chakra she could give up at once or how hard she could punch someone. She remembered what Haku had said; her brain was her strength. She remembered what Kisame had said; if she was under-prepared, she would die. Seals couldn’t make up for experience or brute strength, but being more prepared than her enemy might. The downside to seals, that they had to be prepared ahead of time, was also a strength. She could prepare for anything. And like Kisame said, being prepared was the best thing a ninja could do to be prepared. 

The other three nights a week, she would work industriously to make storage seals and exploding tags that she began to sell, bringing in extra money that she split between her parents, her savings, and her pocket. In addition, this also helped her practice, which was just as necessary in sealing as it was for any other technique. 

Team Fourteen always had one day off a week, usually Saturday or Sunday, that Sakura would spend reading the books that Kisame brought her or that she picked herself at the library. Sometimes it was a supplementary book to a history lesson, sometimes it was a guide on how to make poisons. She quickly found that she could do push-ups over a book to double down on her training, or that she could prop a book up on the edge of her bed while she did sit-ups. 

Their schedule slowly shifted to one day each of tai- and kenjutsu, genjutsu, and ninjutsu; and three days of working separately. 

All of this, of course, was if Kisame didn’t take out any C-rank missions. 

C-rank missions meant they would leave the village for several days at a time. They would run reports to the borders, they would restock emergency supply drops on the outer islands, they would escort merchants to the coast, they would deliver packages, and so much more. These were Sakura’s favorite days, when they were headed out to the outer islands. Kisame would summon Aya, a larger shark, that they would ride to their destination. Aya was huge and pale, her back dappled with every color in the rainbow. If they traveled far enough to break out of Kiri’s omnipresent mist and cloud-cover, her back would shimmer in the sun like mother-of-pearl. 

These days were also Sakura’s least favorite days, because sometimes, Kisame would summon Aya, but not let them ride. He’d make them run across the waves or surf to practice their chakra control and to ensure they could actually make it from island to island to get to the mainland, like most kiri nin did. Those days made Sakura’s lungs burn with salt spray and her legs burn with lactic acid and she’d pump her arms until they were dead weight and until her stomach ached from breathing. At least on those days, they got the day off after they got back off to rest and recover.

Sakura soaked up the knowledge presented to her like a sponge. She was amazed at her growth, but supposed this was what it was like to have a teacher’s full attention, to have teammates who supported her, to have a teacher who actually wanted her to succeed. She was a little envious of Haku and Chojuro once she’d realized that that’s what they’d had over her all along, once she’d realized that… she was actually kind of good at being a ninja. Would she be where they were if she’d had this all along? Her genjutsu was improving by leaps and bounds. She could combine her genjutsu with her E- and D-rank earth and water ninjutsu to lethal effects, not even having to get close with her rapidly improving taijutsu or kenjutsu. Her fuinjutsu was improving as well under her uncle’s tutelage. She could now make paralyzing seals to slap on an enemy, freezing seals to throw on water to create a surface to stand on, and barrier seals that she could set up outside a campsite. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for your patience as I flail my way through school <3 I appreciate that and all of the kind words y'all have left so far. I'm so excited to be continuing this and working on my darling some more! Keep an eye out on the rest of the series as I might be dropping in a few other snippets from here and there as I go.  
> Leave a comment and let me know what you liked and what you're looking forward to! Comments help me remember to get everyones favorite characters in!!  
> As i've rewritten this chunk like three times now, next chapter will be a C rank mission and prep for the chunin exam. You'll notice pretty quickly I'm getting ready to jump into some time skips but I'm also hoping to get out quite a few chapters in the next few days, so be sure you're not missing any! <3


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning for canon typical violence  
> PLEASE NOTE RATING CHANGE; I am bumping this to a T rating as this chapter has some violence and ~heavier themes~ that are going to be explored more in depth in later chapters.  
> (If you haven't been here in a while, make sure you read the last chapter that I posted last week!)

Their first C-rank mission was a supply run out to some of the outer islands. They rode on Aya with all of the supplies and listened to Kisame tell a story about how he he’d met a Konoha ninja in Tea. They’d started off fighting because they’d thought each was after the other’s mission objective, but they ended up getting the attention of three different gangs when they realized their missions had nothing in common but geography. Kisame had ended up fighting back-to-back with Shiranui, a rare Konoha nin with a talent for senbon that rivaled Haku. Shiranui had been over his head and Kisame had given him a quick save (and a quicker toss, bodily, into their enemies) that Shiranui had repaid by mixing Kisame an antidote to a poison from the land of rivers. The two of them had completed their missions and then drank three bars dry-- nevermind that one of them was a tea bar.

Haku peppered Kisame with questions as Chojuro laid facedown and smothered his laughter into Aya’s back. 

They restocked four island safehouses as well as two guard outposts manned by teams of cranky jounin and tired chunin.

Their second C-rank was running some messages up to Kumo, which was horrible only because Kisame made them run across the waves every day until they were nearly exhausted. Apart from running, it was just boring riding Aya until they got to the shores of Cloud. Cloud was interesting when they got there, but they were meeting another team at the border to pass the messages off to. It was another genin team who looked just as tired as they did with a jounin teacher who was grinning just as widely as Kisame. 

Their third, fourth, fifth, and sixth missions were much the same. They fell slowly into a routine, but even if C-ranks were a part of their routine, they were still an exciting change of pace. That wasn’t to say that all of their missions were routine; they still ran into surprises. 

On their seventh C-rank mission, they ran into a missing nin. Sakura, Haku, and Chojuro spread out in a triangle to contain him while Kisame attacked. It was the first time they’d ever seen him go all out. 

Sakura gasped in awe when he pulled out Samehada and unwrapped the bandages from it. He was incredible! He was faster than Haku at their top speed and stronger than anyone else Sakura had ever seen. The way he combined water jutsu and his swordsmanship was masterful. When he cut his chakra and killing intent loose, Sakura almost lost her grip on the water. It was terrifyingly intense. So this was what an A (questionably S) ranked ninja looked like.

He flattened the missing nin, managing to drain him of all of his chakra with Samehada rather than kill him, and Haku trussed him up like a roast pig with ninja wire and skillful knots that Kisame nodded approvingly at. 

“But,” Kisame held up a finger. “we still have a mission to complete, remember?” 

Right. Sakura had actually forgotten.

“It’s not much farther.” Kisame patted Aya’s back and she surged forward through the water again. “I’ll stay here and watch the prisoner while you three get in and out.”

“On our own?” Sakura asked, nervously.

Kisame nodded, looking unbothered by it. “You three have done a few of these missions now, you know what you’re doing. It should be easy for you.”

_ Should  _ didn’t mean  _ was  _ though.

As it turned out, the missing-nin had a partner who wasn’t too happy to see them.

He lunged out of a cavern in the rocks and Sakura froze for a split second before Haku yanked her aside. If they hadn’t, she’d be dead.

Sakura dropped her crate of supplies and yanked out a few kunai that were pre-threaded with ninja wire.

The ninja forced Chojuro and his swords back with a blast of chakra from his wickedly long sword.

Haku threw a handful of senbon that the ninja dodged most of. He took one in the fleshy part of his calf, but not near a major pressure point or tenketsu like Haku had been aiming.

Sakura threw her kunai, realizing just before she did that she’d also grabbed some that were pre-wrapped with exploding tags. She gave them a quick pulse of chakra as she threw. Perfect. Now if she could just…

He dodged out of the way of them, but Sakura yanked and the Kunai changed directions. When they did, the wires on them caught on the ninja and wrapped around him. The kunai got close enough to his torso for her to pulse her chakra again to explode them.

He went flying from the force of the explosion, which yanked the wires from her hands. She was glad for her thick leather gloves then. She gasped from both the force of the explosion as well as the deep cuts that the wires sliced into the palms of her gloves.

Chojuro dove in with a mighty yell, falling in a twist to give his strikes maximum power.

The ninja, still tangled in Sakura’s wires, managed to block his katana, but not his wakizashi. It bit deeply into his side, deliberately lower and easier for an opponent to miss.

The ninja was in no shape to block Haku’s next barrage of senbon. He went limp. Chojuro stepped back cautiously, withdrawing his blade from the man’s side.

Sakura drew another kunai and approached cautiously with Haku.

“Are there any more?” She asked Haku softly. 

Haku was the best of the three of them at sensing. Haku closed their eyes and Sakura guarded their back as they did so.

“There are seventeen rabbits, forty-seven birds, three turtles, and eight chipmunks on this island. Other than Kisame-sensei and the other missing-nin, I don’t sense anything.” They said after a moment. “He’s dying.” They added, looking at the paralyzed ninja in front of them. “A mercy kill would be best.” They tucked a strand of hair behind their ear.

Kisame burst into the small clearing, Samehada in his hand. “What happened?” He barked.

“He had a partner.” Chojuro said shortly, gesturing with his bloody wakizashi. “Haku says we should mercy him.” Sakura didn’t think she would ever get used to the way he changed when a mission was involved. His gaze was steady and self-assured, hands perfectly even, voice firm and sure.

Kisame glanced between the three of them, eyes flicking rapidly around. He finally straightened from his defensive stance and slung Samehada back into his sling. “Sakura, mercy him.” Kisame ordered.

Sakura nearly flinched, but contained it. She looked at the ninja on the ground. Only his eyes were moving, wide with fear. Your first kill was a big deal.

“Can you do it?” Kisame asked, voice perfectly even.

“Yeah.” She nodded. She drew her wakizashi, though her hands were shaking. She slipped around behind him. She could do this. She’d been preparing for this since the academy after all. They’d had a class that went into detail on how to administer mercy shots-- right up against the best ways to conduct an assassination.

She knelt. His breathing was fast, panicked.

She grabbed his chin and pulled back. His skin was warm against hers. 

She set her blade at his throat. His terrified eyes stared up at her, inches from her face. 

She slashed his throat. Her wakizashi cut through skin, fat, muscles, and cartilaginous trachea like a knife through butter. Her blade lodged in his spine. It was easier than she thought. Distantly, she registered the arterial spray of the wound squirting up across Chojuro’s face and torso. It was much easier than she thought it would be to cut an enemy’s throat to the bone, easier than it should be.

She had killed him.

He’d tried to kill her. She didn’t feel bad for killing him.

She felt horrified that she didn’t feel bad for killing him.

Her stomach rolled. She withdrew her wakizashi, having to give it a jerk to free it from the bone. It made a stomach churning squishing noise when she did. She set it aside in the grass and stood carefully. Her hands weren’t shaking any more, but it felt like the rest of her was. She took a few polite steps away from the missing-nin’s corpse and vomited behind a rock.

“Alright, you two, get the crates and restock the drop point.” She faintly heard Kisame ordering the other two. “I’ll take care of things here.”

She retched again.

“Careful, or you’ll get it in your hair.” Kisame said. His words were scolding but his voice was gentle as he gathered her loose hair back from her face.

She retched a few more times and then spat to clear her mouth. She straightened and grabbed her canteen from her pack. She poured water into her mouth, swished, and then spat the whole acidic mess out again.

“You good?” Kisame asked her.

She took a deep, shuddering breath. “I didn’t feel bad for killing him. I felt bad that I didn’t feel bad.” She looked up at him.

Kisame smiled slightly. “That’s the easier thing to deal with.” He shrugged. “I just remember that I don’t owe anyone my feelings. I never let myself feel like I should feel sad when someone I hate dies or like I should be happy about something when I’m having a shitty day. You don’t owe anyone your feelings either.”

“But… Shouldn’t I though?”

“Do you think I should have felt bad if I’d killed that first asshole?” Kisame asked her.

She shook her head. “You would have been protecting us.”

“Then why do you think you should feel bad?”

His logic stumped her. She thought about it for a moment. “I guess… I don’t want my mom and dad to think I’m horrible.” She admitted.

“So don’t tell em. I don’t tell my parents shit.” Kisame admitted.

Huh. She hadn’t really thought about that option. She didn’t want to lie to them. “Isn’t it lying by omission though? And, like, shouldn’t I tell them?”

“Not telling someone you don’t like their hair isn’t lying if they don’t ask you. It’s a mercy, for both of you.” Kisame shrugged. “Now, you good?”

She frowned and took stock of herself. She was shaky, but that was from expelling her electrolytes and hydration. She felt surprisingly good, emotionally. “Yeah, I think so.”

“Good.” Kisame slapped her on the back. “Have a snack and get back to Aya while I take care of this asshole.” Kisame pulled out a coil of ninja wire.

She beat Haku and Chojuro back to Aya. Their prisoner was awake and beginning to fight his bindings. Sakura hastily pulled out a paralyzing tag and slapped it on his arm before he could notice she was there.

He went completely stiff. 

She sat and leaned against Aya’s massive dorsal fin, pulling a bag of salted jerky out of her pack. She worked on rehydrating and replenishing her electrolytes until the rest of her team returned.

Haku took a seat on Aya’s head while Kisame threw the corpse down beside his friend with a smirk.

Chojuro came and sat by Sakura as Aya surged slowly into motion. Blood was drying on his shirt and on his cheek, though he’d cleaned his glasses. “A-are you okay?” He asked softly.

She nodded and offered him the jerky.

After a moment, he took one, nibbling at it. “Thanks.” He whispered.

“I didn’t barf because I felt bad.” Sakura answered the unasked question. “I barfed cuz I felt bad that I didn’t feel bad. I don’t feel bad for not feeling bad anymore.” She added after a moment.

Chojuro chewed thoroughly and swallowed. “The first time I killed someone I barfed.” He confided. “I… I did feel bad. I don’t feel b-bad anymore.”

Sakura leaned against him, resting her head against his shoulder. He stiffened at the contact, but only momentarily. He nibbled at his jerky again.

It was a successful mission.

Kisame turned the two men in to the hunter nin office, getting the bounties for their troubles. His, he pocketed. The one for the second nin, he split three ways, handing a stack of cash to each of them. “Good work today, kids. You’ve upgraded from goldfish to tuna fish!” He grinned broadly at them and sent them all on their ways.

Sakura expected to feel different when she got home. She was a killer now, after all. Wasn’t she supposed to feel different? More mature or something? Instead of feeling different, she… wasn’t really given time to feel anything at all.

“Oh, welcome home sweetheart!” Sakura’s mom bustled over and gave her an absent peck on the cheek as she whipped a tape measure from her pocket. “Can you come help me and roll this hem while I sew it? Hurry, dear, hurry!”

“What’s the rush?” Sakura dropped her pack and hurried over.

“We have to get over to Auntie Maneli’s! It’s your cousin Jubo’s first birthday but I need to get this finished for pick-up first thing in the morning!” Her mom threaded a needle and used her teeth to bite off a long length of thread.

“Oh! Will I have time to bathe?” Sakura folded the unfinished edge over itself by a perfect centimeter. She was well practiced at this.

Her mother stitched in an invisible start and then began stitching at speed in a perfect hemming stitch. “You should have time.” She hummed to herself, quickly becoming absorbed in perfectly measured stitches.

“Is Daddy making the cake?” She asked.

“Mmhm. Move your finger, dear.” Sayuri mumbled.

It was a lovely dress in a cheongsam style. Expensive silk on the inside and out. The outside was a deep pine green while the inside was a crisp white. The edging and embroidery on the dress were white as well. Sakura glanced around her mother’s sewing room. “You should see if you can convince them to buy that white wool wrap you made last year with it.”

“Mmm.” Her mother hummed. She’d have to remind her later.

“Cake’s a-cookin’!” Her father entered and then beamed at her. “Welcome home! You’re just in time!”

“Daddy, come hold this so I can go bathe!” Sakura urged.

He came and pressed a kiss to the top of her head before taking over for her. His baker’s fingers were just as adept at the task as Sakura’s were.

Sakura rushed off to bathe and dress. This was practically a family reunion; everyone would be there. She had to look nice!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you everyone for all the kind words wishing me good health and good studies <3 <3 <3 good health and a happy, prosperous new year to all of you as well!   
> I'm glad so many of you are enjoying the developing friendships and all the backstory I'm shoving in to Kiri! <3 Hopefully y'all won't hate me too much for some of the character/relationship development I'm going to try and spin over the next few chapters! This includes looking at the caste system a little more in depth, because I'm absolutely not done talking about that yet. Keep in mind that it's canonical that Kiri works off a caste system, though maybe not the same way that I'm writing it.  
> Can all the Genma stans in the house please raise your hands? I couldn't resist throwing in a little cameo :p I'm trying to give love to all the unappreciated characters! Hopefully Hayate will make at least a brief appearance in 4-5 chapters, but on that note, any other favs I can try to squish in? let me know! 
> 
> I split this chapter in a weird place (to my brain, not to the pacing) because I need to rework the next few scenes just a little bit! But if I'm productive, y'all might see another chapter later tonight!! <3 leave me a comment here or shoot me an encouraging message on my tumblr (InAweOfDiana) if you want to help motivate me!! <3 <3


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i never remember if i do notes at the beginning or the end but regarding last chapter, yes, Kiri does much more desensitivity training than Konoha does! I don't think i've mentioned that outright in the story yet, but I know at least one person mentioned it in the comments!   
> im glad to hear some people are having conflicting feelings; that's absolutely what I'm going for! Hopefully I'll get to evoke some more of those over the next few chapters! 
> 
> As this is my third chapter or so in as many days, please make sure you're current! <3

After eight months of training and missions, Kisame surprised them. After their D rank missions for the day, he took them to the tea shop Sakura had visited with him on her very first day with him. Ryota welcomed them and brought the genin plenty of cushions to stack so that they could sit at an equal height to Kisame’s table. 

“Go ahead and get your lunches out, they won’t mind.” Kisame unpacked his own bento.

Sakura surreptitiously leaned forward enough to see what he’d done today. He’d made his rice and sausage into little pigs with his vegetables cut into little flower shapes. She hid her grin and sat back, unwrapping her own bento. Sakura’s lunch wasn’t nearly as cute, but it did have a cute little note from her father. 

_ Sacchan-- have a good day and grow strong! <3 Papa _

She smiled at it and blushed a bit because really, twelve was pretty old to be getting notes in her bento. She tucked it away in her notebook with all of her other lunch notes, but noticed Haku and Chojuro peeking at it curiously. She blushed a bit deeper and held it out.

“My papa leaves notes in my lunchbox.” She explained.

“Ah, that’s so cute!” Haku smiled. “I wish Zabuza would do that, but I’m the one who packs the lunches. Maybe I should do that for him.” They wondered. “Do you think he’d be surprised?”

Kisame laughed. “I’d pay to see his face!” His chopsticks had little sharks on them.

“Cute.” Chojuro whispered.

“Right?” Sakura nodded. “Totally cute, but ugh, totally embarrassing!” 

“I think it’s sweet.” Haku giggled. “Are those more?” They pointed at the pocket in her notebook.

She nodded. “Yeah, he cuts up origami paper so they’re all different.” She pulled the little sheaf of notes out to show them. “Sometimes Mama draws little doodles on them too, look.” She pulled one out of the stack that had a little turtle.

Chojuro smiled when he poked at it.

“Here’s your tea, Kisame-Sama! Extra large, because I brought four cups!” Ryota smiled cheerily, setting their tea out. Sakura shuffled her notes away.

“Tuna fish, you want Sanshoku or Mitarashi dango?” Kisame asked them.

“Mitarashi please!” Sakura smiled at Ryota.

“Sanshoku, please.” Haku smiled. 

They both carefully did not look at Chojuro to put more pressure on them as he stuttered. “S-s-s-sansh-shoku.” He whispered. 

Ryota nodded with a smile, turning to Kisame.

“Mitarashi. Thanks.”

Ryota left and they dug into their lunches. Sakura was hungry after a full morning of clearing brush and repairing the border walls. She’d even gotten to watch the seal squad repair part of the border seal! Even though she hadn’t understood most of it, she’d still taken copious notes. She wanted to try some of their formatting for her camping seal.

“Now, we’re taking a special day to relax and strategize.” Kisame informed them, popping one of his rice-and-sausage pigs into his mouth whole.

Sakura used her bunny patterned chopsticks to carve a cube of rice free.

“I want to enter you three for the chunin exams.”

Sakura choked on her bite of rice when she inhaled sharply in surprise.

Haku and Chojuro both slapped her on the back-- Chojuro much harder, though surely accidentally.

With their help, she dislodged the bite back out into a napkin. “What?” She coughed.

Kisame looked amused rather than sympathetic. “Unless you’ve got water in your ears, you heard me. You’re ready.”

“Yes.” Haku nodded simply.

Sakura and Chojuro shared an uncertain look.

“Do you really think so?” She asked for the two of them.

Chojuro nodded to second her words.

Kisame took another large bite and held up his hand. “You all have proficiencies over your chosen areas of combat.” He held up a finger. “You all have the necessary critical thinking skills.” He held up a second finger. “You’ve all had your first kill.” He held up a third finger.

Ryota dropped a cup where he’d been eavesdropping with wide eyes.

Haku shot him a disdainful sidelong look, though you’d never know it by looking at their neutral smile. The secret was in the angle of their chin relative to their eyebrows.

Ryota hurried to busy himself with cleaning, ears burning red but eyes still wide.

“Not to mention the three of you make a good team. What more do you need than that?” Kisame continued as though there had been no interruption whatsoever. 

His plain, straightforward logic stumped Sakura, and, apparently, Chojuro as well.

“I mean… If you think we’re ready.” She nodded.

“I do. If nothing else, it will be a good experience for you all to experience the exams and get some practice facing combatants from different regions. But I think you’re all at the chunin level.” He shrugged. “Chojuro and Haku probably could’ve passed straight out of the academy. Now that you’ve also gotten some individualized training, you’re getting up there in skill too, Sakura. I’m expecting you all to come out of this with a promotion, but there’s no shame if you don’t. The chunin exams are infamous for curveballs.”

Sakura looked down at her lunch as she thought. Was she really ready for the chunin exams? “Where will they be taking place?” She asked.

“In Fire. Konoha.” Kisame said.

“What!” Sakura nearly dropped her chopsticks. “I haven’t read hardly anything about Konoha! Why didn’t you tell me sooner? I could have been researching them for weeks now!” She only knew the most common of their plants and even that was only a passing familiarity with the poisonous ones! She didn’t know any of their medicinal plants at all. 

Kisame just laughed. “That’s part of the test, kid. How fast can you cram?” 

Haku clicked their tongue at Kisame. “It is not. Sakura, shall I accompany you to the library?”

Sakura sighed mournfully. “Yeah. I can start you on the clan research.”

“That will be fine. Chojuro, you need to spy on Mei and gather any intel you can from that front. If she is too secretive, I would recommend spying on Utakata; he is far more lax with confidential materials than he ought to be.” Haku said.

Chojuro nodded, frowning slightly.

“After lunch.” Kisame said, ignoring their chosen topics of conversation. So it probably didn’t count as treason or anything then. That was good to know at least.

Sakura wolfed down her food and pulled out a notebook and pencil. “Okay, we need to start planning!” She said.

Kisame looked on proudly as they shuffled closer and began strategizing. 

Luckily they had a whole week before they needed to leave. Even more luckily, Kisame started compressing their training to just the mornings, cutting them loose to allow them to prepare. Sakura spent most of it in the library and conditioning. She devoured histories and reports, maps and guides, chewing through all of it for any information that could give them an edge. She wrote down brief descriptions of each major clan’s techniques. Whatever descriptions she could find, anyway. Clans were notoriously secretive even if they were from the amicable city of Konoha.

Chojuro didn’t have much luck getting any information out of the Mizukage or whoever Utakata was, but Haku ended up pressing a fair amount out of Zabuza that they added to Sakura’s files. They ended up spending most of the week at Haku’s house.

She’d been incredibly nervous the first time she’d followed Haku home after training, but her nerves were unfounded when Zabuza wasn’t even home.

“He’s one of Mei’s retainers.” Haku informed her when she asked. “He serves as one of her guards full-time. He also advises her on some stuff and goes on missions sometimes. That’s why I cook.” Haku smiled. 

“Do you like it, at least?”

“Yes.” Haku nodded. They’d let their hair down when they’d arrived, also stripping down to their base layer; their leggings and sleeveless top. They now wore an apron on top of this and were cutting vegetables.

Chojuro had also shed some of his gear in light of the pile of books they were still scouring. Sakura joined him. They were making a reference guide of plants and animals in the area. They all started getting frustrated by the second day when they began to complain that all trees looked the same. Big, wooden, and leafy, so what was the difference between these two types of bark patterns already?

“If you can memorize 361 tenketsu points, this should be no problem.”

Sakura nearly jumped out of her skin when someone spoke from behind her. She whirled.

Zabuza Momochi, the monster of the mist, the no tailed demon, stood tall and imposing in the living room. Suddenly the arched ceilings and high doorways made a lot more sense. He was over six feet tall and a sheer mass of muscle. Only his eyes were visible above a black face mask, sharp and assessing. He wore one of the legendary swords of the mist on his back, held in place by a large harness buckled on top of his lavender jounin’s vest. He wore long gloves that ended above his elbows, reinforced on the inside and plated with metal on the outside. 

He would have been terrifying if she hadn’t gotten used to having Kisame as a teacher.

“You’re home early.” Haku said, rising with a smile. They crossed to him and hugged him.

Zabuza patted them on the head. “Ao got in a snit, sent me home. Utakata was just being a layabout anyway.”

Haku looked up at him. “You can either make dinner or help us study.” They said.

Which was how Sakura found herself sitting next to the demon of the mist at Haku’s table as he critiqued their identification guide and Chojuro’s corresponding drawings. 

Life was strange that way, she supposed.

On the morning that they were to leave, her parents were up early to wish her off and insisted on walking her to the gates. It was a short walk for them, considering they lived in the outer ring of the city. Her father had buried her in baked goods and her mother had given her a new hooded scarf in a pale jade green, both for good luck. Sakura was pretty sure it was just them fussing over her while they still could. To prove her suspicions correct, they bundled her up and then bundled up themselves, walking proudly arm in arm with her.

She was surprised to see the Mizukage and her retainers waiting with Kisame at their arranged meeting place. She had assumed that they would be traveling separately, like the other teams entering the chunin exams. In retrospect, given the closeness of the rest of her team to the Mizukage and her retinue, it made sense.

Mei Terumi looked just as regal and imposing in her travel clothes as she did in her blue kimonos. She wasn’t wearing the standard Kiri turtleneck, but was wearing the lavender jounin vest. She was wearing a navy v-neck with a coordinated navy skirt that was split up the sides to show the faint wave pattern on her leggings. She was wearing shin guards, but her arms were bare of any armoring. Her massive mane of hair was loose, as always, falling in wild curls to her knees. She was sitting on a pack and Zabuza, the demon of the mists, was pulling some of her wild hair into an elegant topknot. Seated, with her hair being tugged at, and laughing at something her other retainer said, she looked every bit as young as her twenty-five years of age.

Sakura felt wrong-footed, watching the scene. On either side of her, her parents faltered. They hadn’t expected to run into the Mizukage when they’d gotten up this morning. Sakura supposed all three of them felt a little underdressed.

Along with the Mizukage and her guards, Haku and Chojuro were already there. They were flanking Zabuza on both sides, watching him do Mei’s hair. 

“Hey Tuna Fish.” She sensed Kisame coming a split second before he spoke. On either side of her, her parents jumped with surprise.

“Good morning.” She smiled up at him.

Kisame was dressed in full mission gear, complete with his over-elbow gloves that showed off his bulging biceps. “We’ve got the whole Haruno family!” He nodded his greetings to them, carefully close-lipped to hide his sharp teeth that civilians found intimidating.

“Good morning!” Her father recovered quicker, waving with the hand that wasn’t around Sakura’s shoulder. “Now are you sure you all can get ahead of that storm coming in?” He immediately began to fuss. The clouds were thick on the eastern horizon.

Sakura huffed.

Kisame huffed too, in laughter. “Yes. We travel quick, even for ninja. Come on, Tuna Fish.” He motioned and led the way to where Mei was sitting.

Haku and Chojuro peered curiously at Sakura’s parents when they stopped. They stopped a respectable distance from the Mizukage, bowing politely.

Mei, hair finally done, rose. Her parents went tense on either side of her when she approached them. “Sakura-chan, I’m glad you decided to come.” She smiled warmly. “These must be your parents. Haruno-san, Haruno-san, thank you for entrusting your daughter to us.” She said graciously, smiling warmly.

Sakura cut off their blustering and spluttering before either of them could blurt out anything horribly embarrassing. “Mei-sama!” She bowed deeply. “This is my mother, Sayuri, and my father, Yuichi.”

Mei was smiling, a mischievous glint in the eye that wasn’t hidden by hair. “I’m honored to make your acquaintance.” She said, perfectly polite. “The reports I’ve been getting from Kisame-kun indicate that your daughter is very talented.”

Sakura blushed. The Mizukage thought  _ she  _ was talented?

Her father puffed up with pride and her mother beamed. “She works real hard every night!” Her father boasted, squeezing her tight to his side. “Brings home all kinds of books on poisons and traps and ninja what-have-you!” He nodded.

Mei giggled. 

“She’s very studious.” Kisame agreed. “Sakura, you can add your pack to the pile, there. We’re still waiting on a few people.”

Sakura hated to leave her parents unattended, but she obeyed. When she plunked down her pack next to Chojuro’s and Haku’s, the two materialized at her sides.

“Are those your parents?” Haku asked.

Chojuro nodded to second the question.

“Yeah.” She nodded. It looked like Kisame and Mei were discussing something important with them. Oh gods. Her mother was holding Mei’s hands, nodding wisely. And then she patted her cheek like she was a child. Her father looked like he was an inch from joining her. Kisame looked delighted.

“Oh no.” Sakura groaned. “I’m never going to be able to look her in the eye again.” She covered her face with both hands.

“M-mei likes them.” Chojuro whispered.

“Really?” Her head popped back up. “How can you tell?” She demanded.

Chojuro snickered. “Th-the last p-person who tried to t-touch her when she didn’t w-want them to g-got a face full of  _ lava _ .”

Sakura could feel her face going gray. Her mom could have gotten a face full of lava for overstepping.

Haku snorted on her other side. “You’re not helping.” They said over her head to Chojuro.

Chojuro tried to smother his giggles.

“What’s with the civilians?”

Two more packs hit the dirt.

Sakura gaped and tried not to stare. Standing beside their packs were the two village jinchuuriki. They were both incredibly strong, practically unbeatable. They were wearing traveling clothes, fully geared up. They were also casing her parents like they might be assassins. One was a man, fully kitted in ubiquitous jounin dress. The only reason Sakura recognized him was because of the gold and green pipe he was twirling in his slim, elegant fingers. It was almost as legendary as the swords of the mist. Rumors said he could defeat an entire platoon of enemies with nothing but bubbles.

The other was a kid around her age. He had grey-blond hair and luminous pink eyes. There was a wicked scar under one of his eyes. He was holding a stocky staff with a wicked hook on one end. Sakura remembered vaguely that he was a member of the Karatachi clan. He was wearing copious amounts of shawls bundled around himself, obscuring his clothes. She could tell he was wearing tall boots and fishnets, but that was it.

“Those are Sakura’s parents.” Haku spoke up, utterly confident even when speaking to two of the most powerful ninja in the country. Maybe even on the planet. “Sakura, I don’t think you’ve met yet. This is Utakata and Yagura.” They motioned to each of them in turn.

Yagura and Utakata glanced over at her next and looked her up and down like maybe she was the threat here. Yagura wrinkled his nose slightly. Utakata nodded.

“Nice to meet you.” Utakata said, already looking away.

“Looks like they’re done.” Haku announced suddenly. “Come on, introduce us, I want to meet them.” They ordered, tugging Sakura forward.

“Eep!” Sakura stumbled forward after them. 

Chojuro followed along quite willingly. “Me too.” He whispered.

Kisame and Mei both looked at them as they approached. Mei looked highly amused when Sakura’s mom finally stopped patting her cheeks and stepped forward to do the same to Haku and Chojuro. “These must be your teammates!” She beamed. “This young man must be Chojuro!” She cupped his face and patted his cheek. “So big and strong! And this young, erm, person, must be Haku! Ah, so pretty! But not as lovely as my Sakura!” She moved onto Haku, cupping their face as well.

Chojuro blushed bright red when she squeezed his face.

Haku smiled radiantly, not minding her little stutter over gendered terminology. “Haruno-san, we’ve been looking forward to meeting you.” They nodded politely.

“Sakura, why haven’t you brought them around sooner!” Her mother scolded, squishing her cheeks too. 

“We’ve been busy.” She protested lamely. The real reason was she didn’t want her parents to be terrified when her teammates’ table manners wore thin. Her parents weren’t used to teammates who’d try and stab someone for moving too close to their plate for fear they were trying to steal a choice morsel. Not to mention the lack of finesse or table etiquette in general. 

They were all ready to go and the only thing they were waiting on was Sakura’s parents. She blushed as they fussed over her some more. Her mother tugged at her hooded scarf and tucked it into place more securely. Her father smoothed out a few wrinkles in her cape and tried to stealthily sneak a coin purse into her pocket.

“Good luck, dear.” Her mother pressed a kiss to her cheek.

“Stay safe, little raindrop!” Her father pressed a kiss to her forehead.

She squeezed them both in a hug, as tight as she could, eyes burning a bit.

Then finally, blessedly, they stepped back.

She hurried to grab her pack, the last one to do so. Kisame hefted it for her like it weighed nothing, letting her slip her arms through the straps with ease. She was going to enter the chunin exams and she was going to kick ass. She had to become a chunin, for her parents, she decided, reaffirming her goals to herself. She was in the back of the group when it set out, and turned frequently to turn and wave at the gates until the mist was too thick to see through anymore. 

Chojuro bumped her shoulder companionably. 

“Your parents are nice.” Haku smiled. 

“Yeah.” Sakura agreed with a smile. “I just wish they didn’t treat me so much like a kid.” She doubted Haku and Chojuro had trouble with that, but to her surprise, Chojuro nodded emphatically.

She quirked an eyebrow at him and he blushed slightly, mumbling something. “Y-you’ll see.” He sighed.

Haku snickered on her other side. “Just wait.” They agreed. 

Once they got to the docks, Kisame summoned Aya. The jounin all piled on, slipping their packs off and using them as stools. It was a clever way to keep from getting their butts wet.

“Now, you three, you’ll be practicing your chakra control. Summon Kin, Ume, and Momo.” Kisame ordered, stripping his cloak and shoes off.

They all pulled their packs off and Kisame gave one each to Utakata, Ao, and Zabuza, passing his own to Yagura.

Sakura also took the chance to strip off her travel cloak and shoes. She’d be a bit cold, but it was better than drenching her cloak if she accidentally fell in. Besides, she could always cycle her chakra faster if she needed to. The three of them summoned their sharks as Kisame slipped into the water with a happy sigh. With his enhanced speed in the water, he could keep pace with ease. It also gave them a jounin down below to keep watch on that front.

“Now, we’re going to stop for lunch on Dosina Island and we’re going to stop for the night on Scallop Island, got it?”

The three genin nodded.

“Good.” Kisame nodded. “You three are in charge of navigation, so lead the way.” He grinned at their nervous looks and then slipped under the water.

Chojuro and Sakura looked to Haku. They were the one who was generally in charge in situations like this. Haku considered them. “Sakura, you’re the best at navigation, so you should lead.” They said.

Sakura shuffled her bare feet. “I’m not the strongest though. Can Chojuro lead the way in case something happens?” She offered.

Chojuro nodded. “I-if you tell me which w-way to go.” He murmured.

Haku nodded in agreement. “That sounds good. Are you two ready?”

Sakura surveyed the sky, taking note of the sun’s position and plotting the course it would take over the day. She nodded. “Yes. Oh, wait! I need my goggles.” She hurried over to Aya and patted her flank gently before stepping on. She darted nervously around Utakata and Yagura and knelt to dig in her pack. 

“Sakura!” Haku called. “Can you grab mine too?”

“Got it!” She sealed her pack back up and tugged at Haku’s pack.

“Here.” Zabuza Momochi knelt down beside her. His height and bulk dwarfed her enough to make her feel like a doll. Zabuza’s large fingers were deft as he pulled a pair of goggles from a side pouch and handed them to her.

“Thank you.” Sakura smiled nervously and bobbed her head politely. She didn’t bother returning to the docks, instead just trotting lightly out onto the water. “Here!” She held Haku’s goggles out to them.

“Thank you.” Haku slipped them on.

Sakura did the same, making sure her headband was secure around her neck and that none of her hair was caught in anything.

“Are you ready?” Kin circled her excitedly.

Sakura crouched low to pet her. “Hi. Just about.” She smiled.

“Sakura-chan!” Kin surged up in the water and butted her nose against Sakura’s forehead.

Sakura laughed at her exuberance. “How are you? How’s your mom?”

Kin wiggled happily in the water. “She’s good! Are you good, Sakura-chan? Kisa-chan said you’re entering the chunin exams!”

She nodded. “Yeah! That’s where we’re headed now!”

“Well, climb aboard!” Kin leveled out along the top of the water.

Sakura carefully rested her right foot on the right side of her dorsal fin. A flicker of chakra helped her stick. She balanced carefully on that foot as she gently transferred her weight onto Kin, settling with her left knee against her back. She stuck with chakra in her kneecap and in both palms, left hand on her dorsal fin and right hand behind her right foot.

Aya accelerated gently and Kin, Momo, and Ume took off like they were made of lightning. Sakura yelped in surprise, could hear Chojuro yelling something back behind her, even heard a bitten off curse from Haku. The sea-spray was sharp against her cheeks and she was glad for her goggles keeping the wind and spray from her eyes. Thank the gods she’d tied her scarf firmly into place, otherwise it would still be on the docks. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter: traveling with the Mizukage and her delegation, a little bit of a look into some of Sakura's sealing abilities, and, if I decide to do a long chapter, their arrival to Konoha! <3  
> Thank you everyone for all the lovely comments and support! You are all wonderful <3 <3


	10. Chapter 10

They made decent time to Dosina island. Sakura eyed the clouds chasing them from the east. That didn’t look like good news. They broke for lunch on the beach, snacking on hardtack and dried provisions.

Sakura broke out some of the pastries her Father had foisted off on her. There were quite a few, she’d need to foist some of them off onto Chojuro, Haku, and Kisame. Kisame waded ashore with some yellowfin fish he’d caught, handing them to Haku to butcher. Chojuro pulled out a bag of dried apricots.

“Hey Kisame,” Utakata wandered over to team fourteen from the Mizukage’s little gaggle. “Trade you some cheese for some fish.” He offered.

“Sounds like a deal.” Kisame grinned.

“Ooh, what are those?” Utakata eyed Sakura’s bag. The paper bag she’d produced was obviously grease-stained and fragrant with herbs.

“Um.” Sakura peeked in and sniffed. “I think it’s strudel. It’s got cabbage and stuff inside.”

“Trade you for some cheese?” Utakata smiled, holding up his own bag.

“Sure.” She said tentatively. “But they aren’t warm anymore.”

“Yagura can fix that. Or Mei.” Kisame dismissed casually.

Sakura gaped at him. “I can’t ask the Mizukage to  _ heat up my strudel _ !” She hissed.

“Chojuro can.” Haku pointed out lazily.

Utakata settled the debate by flopping down beside Kisame and tipping his head back to holler “Oi, Yaggy!” back towards the group of Jounin. Utakata rolled to one side just in time to dodge Yagura’s staff impaling the sand where he’d been sitting. 

“Call me ‘Yaggy’ again, snail, I dare you.” Yagura’s glare was venomous.

“Slug.” Utakata corrected with a sickly-sweet smile. “Come put your stupidly perfect chakra control to good use, heat up Haruno’s strudels.” He motioned towards her.

Yagura leveled a flat look at him. “I am  _ not  _ an oven.” He said before turning his glare on Sakura.

She shrank back, shaking her head in agreement with him. Asking a Jounin to do something as petty as warm up food for a Genin was… demeaning.

Kisame kicked sand at him. “Hey, no scaring my fish.” He frowned. Sakura resisted the urge to hide behind him.

Yagura tutted at him and crossed to Sakura, sitting down next to her and taking the bag. When he reached in and pulled out a pastry, it was steaming within seconds. “Here.” He shoved it at Sakura. 

“Oh!” It was piping hot, stinging her wind-chilled hands. She hastily pulled her sleeves down to protect against the worst of the heat. Diffusing through the fabric, the heat would warm her rather than hurt her. 

She couldn’t tell what he was doing, but she knew it was something with his chakra from what Utakata had said. When she focused her sensing, she could faintly feel his chakra. It wasn’t moving, just focused in his hand.

“What did you bring?” Kisame asked Yagura.

“Seaweed chips.” Yagura passed out the freshly warmed strudels to the group. Thank goodness for that. Her father had packed enough for a small army.

“I brought dried persimmons.” Ao sat next to Utakata.

“And I brought soft boiled eggs!” Mei sat next to Chojuro and leaned her head against his. She was holding a frosted egg carton. She just sat down like she wasn’t the Mizukage or something. 

“Give me one of those!” Kisame opened his mouth wide and Mei just tossed an egg in, shell and all.

Kisame happily crunched away as the group traded and swapped and shared their food. It was interesting to see Kisame fall right in with the Mizukage and her aids. Haku and Chojuro were at ease with all of them too. Sakura felt like the odd one out, the only one who didn’t know Zabuza, Ao, Utakata, Yagura, and Mei. So she curled up and ate her food and watched everyone else chat and joke and tease. It almost felt like the academy again, watching from the outside. Only this didn’t feel like she was being deliberately ignored. Every few minutes, Chojuro or Kisame would glance over at her, sometimes meeting her eyes. Haku was almost directly across from her and didn’t need to turn their head to check on her. 

She wasn’t included in their friendly bubble, but she wasn’t being excluded. 

It didn’t take her long to realize that Yagura, next to her, wasn’t participating either.

“How did you do that?” Sakura asked after a moment, shyly. “Heat the food up, I mean.”

Yagura glanced at her and held a hand up. “I don’t have an elemental chakra affinity but I have nearly perfect chakra control.” He said and gathered chakra to his palm. “Since my chakra does not naturally contain any elemental leanings, it’s easy to persuade it to take on any element I choose, such as fire.” The chakra in his hand flickered red and began to emanate heat. Now that he wasn’t holding food, she could actually see how he was manipulating it.

“Oh wow.” Sakura leaned in, intrigued. “That’s got to be a really high level technique.” She guessed. 

He nodded and let his chakra go inert and pull back into his skin. “Basically I just hold fire chakra in my hand and it warms whatever I touch.”

“Huh.” Sakura looked down at her own hands. “Cool.” She didn’t have enough spare chakra to waste any playing with it, but imagining all the different applications of being able to change your chakra typing on a dime.

It took her a little while to notice, but she realized that while Utakata wasn’t paying any attention to her, Ao was actively ignoring her. He’d pass out persimmons at periodic intervals, tossing them to each individual rather than pass the bag around.

Dried persimmons never landed in her lap.

She sighed to herself. She’d almost forgotten she was a nien. Everyone around her was a reien. She’d gotten used to being treated as an equal by her teammates. She’d forgotten not everyone saw her that way. She was a ninja, but she was only a genin nien. 

Some people were more like Utakata, only paying attention to her when it benefited them. She didn’t mind that so much as she minded the people like Ao, the people who purposefully sought to exclude her, looking down on her for what her ancestors had done and the position of her birth.

His persimmons were probably dry anyway, she thought to herself. She’d probably have to deal with him eventually, given Kisame’s comments of cross-training the genin. She looked in her bag to see if her parents had tucked away any other snacks for her. She smiled broadly when she came face to face with a kiwano. They were a rarer fruit, imported from southern Suna. The spiked oval was dull yellow, spikes poking sharply into brighter orange. When she split it open with a kunai, green juice was quick to trickle down her hand. She hastily slurped at it, not wanting the sticky juice to soak into her cuff. It was sweet, just barely underripe. 

Mmm. 

It more than made up for not getting any persimmon. 

She caught Yagura watching her as she began to cut it into chunks. 

“Want some?” She offered.

He nodded. “Thanks.” He took two chunks of it but didn’t eat it yet, just examined it.

“Never had it?” She asked.

He shook his head.

“It’s yummy. My dad likes them. You can eat the seeds and the rind, or you can eat around them.” Sakura said. She squeezed a chunk of her own to loosen the gooey segments before sucking the fruit out of the rind.

Yagura popped a chunk into his mouth and chewed, looking impassive. He chewed for a long moment and then frowned at his second piece.

“Don’t like it?” Sakura asked, eating the leftover rind from her piece. She didn’t particularly like the rind, but it had good nutritional value. Very important for a growing ninja.

“I’m not sure.” Yagura admitted.

Sakura grinned. “Weird, right?”

He nodded in agreement, eating his second chunk of fruit. “Not weird, per say.” He said after another moment. “Different than what I’m used to.”

“Like if an orange or a pomegranate had a baby, kinda.” Sakura offered.

“Pomegranate… I don’t think I’ve had one of those either.” Yagura said.

“Really?” Sakura asked, raising her eyebrows. But he was a reien! Surely they had access to all the imported fruits and foods they wanted.

He shook his head. “No. My clan is very traditional. I don’t get a lot of chances to try new things.” He admitted. 

“The second half of every other week is when the south market gets their produce import in.” Sakura said. “There’s a big trade route they have that goes all the way up and down the coast and through Cloud and Leaf.”

“Really? That often?” Yagura tilted his head.

Sakura nodded. “Yeah, really regularly. A lot of the other nien are immigrants and there’s a lot of demand in the outer ring for imported staples.”

Yagura frowned thoughtfully. “I suppose that makes sense.”

“Yeah. Most of the imports are from Leaf and Cloud. Most of my dad’s favorite recipes are from Leaf, so we have to go down to the market pretty regularly to try and get what he needs for them.”

Yagura hummed.

Sakura offered him another piece of kiwano.

Yagura plucked it out of her hand with a slight smile.

So not all reien were stuck up jerks. That was comforting.

-

Camping that night was interesting, to say the least. There were supposed to be three tents, one for the Mizukage, one for the Jounin, and one for the Genin. In practice, however...

Utakata and Ao worked together seamlessly to set up a tent for Mei. Mei insisted that Chojuro sleep in there with her, and Haku immediately said they were sleeping with Zabuza, who had brought his own tent, probably predicting this. There was another tent for the remaining Jounin that Ao, Utakata, and Kisame piled into, arguing goodnaturedly. Yagura gave the tent a revolted look and lugged his pack over to the Genin tent. 

“Do you mind sharing?” He asked bluntly. It wasn’t quite a question.

Sakura shook her head at once. “No, not at all.” She said. It would be nice to have company.

“Good. They reek and I have no doubt they’ll stay up late playing cards.” He grumbled. He threw his pack down inside.

Yagura was a very polite tent-mate. He kept his gear on his side of the room and did a quick water technique to dry their clothes out like it was as easy as breathing.

“Thank you.” She smiled.

He nodded perfunctorially and sat cross-legged on his bedroll to meditate. 

Sakura stared openly when he began to glow with visible chakra. It was pale green, just a thin, glowing sheen around him. Three ghostly tails formed in the air around him, waving gently in an intangible breeze.

Sakura watched for a bit, fascinated, before going back to her journal.

Utakata poked his head in, half an hour later. He pouted. “You two teenagers aren’t doing anything fun.” He complained. 

Sakura glanced up from her journal, confused.

Yagura opened one glowing pink eye and shot him a dirty look. “Shut up and get out.”

“Don’t be rude, Ya-chan.” Utakata scolded him teasingly. “Dinner’s ready.” He shot Sakura a grin before withdrawing.

Yagura sighed and his chakra withdrew into his body like a lamp being shuttered.

It was a little amazing to watch.

Yagura stretched as he stood. “He’s always trying to catch me doing something embarrassing.” He explained, offhandedly. 

“Why?” She asked, tucking her journal away and grabbing her lightweight dishes from a side pouch of her pack.

“He thinks because he was a hooligan in his youth who regularly made a fool of himself that I must be the same.” Yagura sighed, collecting his dishes. They were painstakingly carved wood sealed with oils and resins, beautifully elegant, with tiny little turtles swimming around the edges.

Sakura’s were pink, made of durable, lightweight plastic. Her cup was actually a thermos, triple layered for insulation. Yagura’s were cool, but hers were more practical, she thought privately.

They exited the tent together, Yagura politely holding the tent flap open for her.

Utakata filled their bowls with the hearty seafood paella he’d made. It smelled incredible.

Sakura plopped down on a dry stretch of dirt next to Kisame and began to eat. She’d expected camping to be awkward, but with Haku and Chojuro and Kisame all being so close already to the Mizukage’s retinue, it felt almost familiar.

Haku was stealing shrimp out of Zabuza’s bowl and Mei was fussing over Chojuro, demanding Utakata or Ao give him more paella whenever his bowl got halfway empty. Yagura and Utakata bickered like siblings, Yagura complaining and Utakata teasing. 

Sakura was still starving when she finished her first bowl and helped herself to a second helping. “It’s really good. Thank you.” She said to Utakata.

He blinked at her and then smiled. “I’m glad you like it. Did you get enough?

She nodded. “I think so.”

“Well, let me know if you want more. We have a big day tomorrow.” He nodded at the rapidly darkening horizon.

Sakura nodded and sat back down.

“Doing alright so far?” Kisame asked.

She nodded again. “Do you think we’re going to get caught in the storm?” She asked.

Kisame sighed and squinted up at the dark clouds. “Hard to say. It doesn’t smell like rain yet, but sometimes the winds can be tricky. We’ll probably get some rain tomorrow, but hopefully we can stay ahead of the lightning and rough seas.”

Sakura grimaced. 

Kisame nodded in agreement. “Yeah. I’ll probably have you tuna ride on Aya tomorrow. I don’t want to risk any of you getting hurt in bad waters.”

Sakura sighed, partly relieved and partly disappointed. “It’d be nice to ride on Miss Aya, but I wanted to talk to Kin some more.”

Kisame chuckled. “Maybe I’ll have you three summon them anyway to help keep an eye out.” He booped her nose.

“Please?” Sakura pouted up at Kisame. “Kin’s so cool! She tells the best stories!”

Kisame laughed.

That night they set up a watch rotation. Kisame said it would be good for them to be taught by other Jounins, see more ways of doing things that weren’t just Kisame’s. Zabuza complained that Kisame just wanted to slack off.

Chojuro had the first shift with Utakata. Haku pouted when they were told they would be on second shift with Yagura. Kisame and Zabuza were taking the fourth shift. Sakura was given third shift with Ao.

Nervousness twisted in her stomach. She approached Kisame tentatively.

“What’s up, tuna?” He was sharpening his brace of kunai.

“Can you… Will you trade watch shifts with me?” She asked, resisting the urge to fidget.

Kisame raised an eyebrow at her. “Why?” He looked like he already knew the answer.

She had to say it anyway. “He doesn’t like me.” She muttered.

“So what?” Kisame asked.

Sakura blinked at him.

“Not everyone in this world is going to like you. Not even all of your teammates you’ll have will like you.” Kisame shrugged.

“I know that.” She definitely knew that, after how she’d been treated in the past.

“So?” Kisame tilted his head slightly.

“So it’s not fair.” She huffed.

Kisame snorted. “Life’s not fair. If it was, we’d be out of a job.”

“Why should I have to work with him if he hates me?” She demanded, putting her hands on her hips.

“He doesn’t hate you.” Kisame went back to sharpening his kunai.

Sakura wanted to roll her eyes. “Of course he does.”

“And what makes you say that?”

“He’s a reien. I’m a nien. He’s better than me.” She couldn’t believe she had to explain this to him. She’d heard that sometimes the upper castes could be blind to their own privileges, but she’d never seen it to this extent.

“Hey now.” Kisame said sharply, looking up. “He’s not better than you.” He said firmly, almost glaring at her. “His social status might be higher than yours, but he’s not better than you are.”

Sakura crossed her arms. Easy for a reien to say.

“Out here, caste doesn’t matter. When you go on shift with Ao tonight, his job will be to teach you and protect you, same as mine. We’re ninja, not schoolkids.”

“That’s exactly how I wish it was.” Sakura scowled at him. “But does he know that?” 

Kisame paused.

“He’s already treating me differently than Haku and Chojuro because they’re reien and I’m a nien. I would get more out of going on watch with Zabuza than Ao.”

Kisame paused for a long moment. “How so?” he asked.

Sakura did roll her eyes now. “He at least sees me as his child’s teammate instead of just a dirty nien. Zabuza would actually teach me. Ao wouldn’t dare not to teach me, but he’d teach me the minimum he could get away with. He wouldn’t treat me like Okawa did, but he didn’t even share his persimmons with me at lunch; there’s no way he’d give me tips. He’d do his diligence and then ignore me.” She said with finality.

Kisame looked at her for a long moment.

Long enough for Sakura to realize how quiet the camp had gotten. She looked around and almost flinched.

Chojuro and Haku were staring resolutely into the fire. Mei was watching her with a neutral face. Zabuza’s eyes were wide, flicking around to catch every reaction. Utakata and Yagura were standing still, frozen where they’d been conversing. Ao stood by the opening of his tent.

Sakura blushed hotly and fisted her hands in the skirt of her tunic to keep them from shaking. She met Ao’s gaze resolutely.

He arched his visible eyebrow. “It’s rather childish to complain about not getting persimmons at lunch.” He said, sounding amused.

Sakura gritted her teeth. She could take getting teased at the academy. She could handle this. “I don’t care about your dumb persimmons.” She said, as calmly as she could manage. It was hard to stay calm when all she wanted was to yell and punch in anger. “I care that my teammates get better training from the same jounins as me. I care that they get treated better than me. I care that they coasted through the academy while I was almost bullied out of it. I care that the teacher that was handpicked for them just broke my arm instead of teaching me. I care that because of something as dumb as my parents immegrating here instead of being born here makes you think you can just be an asshole to me!” So much for not yelling. She was panting by the end. She was certain she was crimson, both from her humiliation and her yelling.

Chojuro was crying, shamefaced.

Haku looked like they’d been slapped.

Mei’s face was still neutral as she watched the confrontation.

“So no, it’s not about your persimmons.” She said, voice back at a normal level. “It’s that you think I’m not worthy of them.” She turned back to Kisame. She gripped her tunic tightly. It might have stopped her hands from shaking, but her knees were quaking. “Are you willing to trade shifts with me or not?” She asked.

He looked at her seriously for a long moment. The silence stretched on as he examined her. Finally, he nodded. “Yeah. You’re on fourth shift with Zabuza then.” 

“Thank you.” She said. “Goodnight.” And she turned on her heel to march stiffly through camp, keeping her gaze straight ahead. Once she was back in her tent, she flopped down on her bedroll and stared at the oiled canvas over her head. It was deafeningly quiet outside.

Finally, someone cleared their throat. It may as well have been a clap of thunder for how loud it sounded. 

“Well!” Utakata announced with a clap of his hands. “The chunin exams are never boring! It’s no surprise we’ve already kicked things off! Now, Zabuza, Yagura, you two take Haku and Chojuro to scout out the area before we finish settling down for the night!” His voice was bright and cheery as if Sakura hadn’t just picked a fight with and yelled at one of the highest ranking jounin in Kiri.

She covered her face with her hands.

She was so dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter,,,,, was supposed to be fun and jokey,,,,,,,,, and then,,,,,,,,,,,,,, t h i s  
> im as shocked as any of you are  
> there was a lot of like,,, unaddressed conflict in this chapter so expect that to be addressed over the next few chapters. not all at once, as different characters have different levels of emotional intelligence, but please trust me when i say it will all be resolved (and Ao won't be a bad guy forever)  
> as Sakura gains confidence in her skills, she gains confidence to be angry and stand up for herself. anyway Sakura's temper is my favorite character oops
> 
> I've been having a lot of fun writing Yagura, he's a really cool character!  
> I can't wait to write more of Utakata either! (House, I hope you're ready for it!)
> 
> They were supposed to get to Konoha this chapter,,,,,,, smh. next chapter maybe?? I'm really excited for what I have planned for once they get to Konoha. Honestly starting from this chapter this fic should be retitled to "Sakura decides to throw hands with everyone" because,,,,,,,,,,, anyway let's just wait and see who she meets :)  
> but as another heads up, starting next chapter (or whenever they get to Konoha, anyway) I'll be starting to sprinkle in a little bit of romance. It's not going to be a main focus of the story, but it will be present! Kisame and Sakura are going to have something else in common as they both fall head over heels in doki doki with Konoha ninja with gorgeous hair (any guesses??)
> 
> thank you so much for all the love and comments, I really appreciate them. I've been so blown away by the support I've been getting for this fic and I love all of you dearly and I'm so glad you're all enjoying reading it as much as I'm enjoying writing it <3 <3 <3


	11. Chapter 11

Kisame watched Sakura vanish into her tent and glanced around. Ao’s amusement had gone sour on his face. Haku and Chojuro looked shocked. Mei looked impassive, hiding her reactions as she processed the confrontation.

Unsurprisingly, Utakata was the one to break the tension that was slowly increasing. “Well!” Utakata clapped his hands. The burst of noise made everyone twitch into movement. “The chunin exams are never boring! It’s no surprise we’ve already kicked things off! Now, Zabuza, Yagura, you two take Haku and Chojuro to scout out the area before we finish settling down for the night!” He was smiling brightly in a way that made the scales on the back of Kisame’s neck bristle. That smile meant someone was in trouble.

He nodded to Utakata in thanks. It would be good to get Chojuro and Haku away from the campsite for a while. Long enough for the adults to have a discussion and long enough for Sakura to have a moment of peace to settle down. “Haku, with Yagura; Chojuro with Zabuza.” He had no problem with Haku’s tendency to follow Zabuza around like a duckling, but he wanted them to learn from other people. They needed more exposure to other jounin-- all his genin did.

Utakata and Mei were having a wordless conversation that was conducted solely in the tilt of their chins, the twitch of their eyebrows, and the twist of their lips. Kisame had seen it before and he had no doubt he’d see it again. They’d been friends longer than Kisame had known either of them. He was pretty sure they’d been chunin teammates, if not genin teammates. They’d fought together in Kiri’s brief, bloody war, and Mei had come out on top with Utakata at her back. The two of them were close, and no wonder. They’d saved each other more times than either of them could count.

After a moment, Utakata turned and motioned to Ao before vanishing in a rush of chakra. Mei patted the ground beside her.

Kisame put away his kunai and whetstone and moved to sit by her, careful not to kick his feet into the fire.

Mei sipped calmly at her tea and Kisame made himself comfortable.

“Do you know why Okawa treated her so badly?” Mei asked, voice carefully soft to keep from carrying.

Kisame snorted. “I’m pretty sure the whole world knows now.”

“Mm. Not quite. It was a part of it, to be sure, but not the whole reason.” Mei sighed. She suddenly sounded much, much older than a woman in her mid-twenties. The way she sighed was weary and fatigued, like she was an old woman about to dissolve away into dust. “Team fourteen was originally Chojuro, Haku, and Suigetsu Hozuki.”

Kisame stared at her.

Mei reached up and raked her bangs back from her face so she could rub at her temple. “Okawa was promised the brightest, most promising team in years by the council. Decades, really. He was angry when the Hozuki clan petitioned for Suigetsu to have a specific jounin instructor.”

Kisame had vaguely heard about the whole affair. Mangetsu had been absent from the Seven Swordsmen meetups two months in a row. Zabuza had remarked about it flippantly, complaining teasingly that Mangetsu cared more about his clan than his comrades.

“Haruno was selected to take his position on team fourteen. Okawa was outraged to have his shining team of reien tarnished with a nien.” Mei sneered, lip curling with distaste. “I should have put a stop to it then, but the council put up a fuss about rearranging any of the teams any more than they already had been.”

“What a dick.” Kisame hissed.

“Mm.” Mei agreed. “I thought he would be the rational ninja his history painted him as, but apparently, his anger was greater than his honor.”

“Filthy fuck.” Kisame growled.

Mei combed her hair out with her fingers, dropping her ties and pins into her lap as she went. “If I’d known…”

Kisame sighed. “Yeah. I knew he was bad, but by the time I came along, he was already dead.”

Mei propped her elbows on her thighs and dropped her face into her hands. “I didn’t become Mizukage to have my people treated like this.” She whispered. “I wanted to change things, but if my own jounin don’t respect my ideals…”

Kisame couldn’t do anything but sigh again. After a moment of silence, he reached out and rubbed Mei’s back comfortingly. “Change takes time.” He offered her.

Mei scoffed. “That’s garbage. It shouldn’t need to.”

Kisame shrugged. “I know, but that’s the way it is.”

Mei sat up and raked her hair back from her face, twisting it into a tight, harsh bun with a few twists. “If the Sandaime had found out about my bloodline abilities, I would be  _ lucky  _ to be a nien.” Mei said, voice carefully even. “More likely, I’d be dead. I grew up as a reien but I also grew up surrounded by people who boasted about how much they hated people like me. All of that changed in a matter of months during the revolution. Change doesn’t take time. It takes people unable to bear another moment of cruelty.” She looked at Kisame, locking eyes with him. It was unnerving to meet both of her eyes. “I may not know exactly how she feels, but I know enough to be fucking enraged.” She growled.

Kisame had never heard her curse before. It was startling. Scary. Kisame considered carefully. “I agree with you.” He started. “But how does any of this help Sakura right now?”

Mei dropped her head back into her hands. “I don’t know.” She whispered.

They sat in silence for a quarter of an hour before Haku and Chojuro returned with Yagura and Zabuza.

Kisame could feel his eyebrows slowly rising as Chojuro nearly  _ stomped _ across their campground and burst into his tent. In seconds, he reappeared with his pack and his bedroll, stomping his way over to Sakura’s tent. He kicked his shoes off before ducking inside. He was followed shortly thereafter by Haku, who had fetched their possessions from their tent as well. 

Zabuza and Yagura joined them.

“Well?” Zabuza demanded.

Mei rolled her eyes. “There’s nothing that can be done at the moment.” She said.

Yagura scoffed. “That’s shit and you know it.”

She pursed her lips at him. “There’s nothing that can be done at the moment that Utakata isn’t already doing.”

“Mn.” Yagura grunted. “She could be given more support.”

Kisame sighed. “Look, Yagura, what happens if we keep Sakura away from Ao? Sure, she doesn’t have to deal with him being an uppity dick, but she also doesn’t learn how to cope with conflict and worth through her issues with a comrade.”

Yagura scowled. “I’m in favor of that, but maybe she could start out with an issue more along the lines of ‘Utakata keeps leaving his wet clothes on my sleeping roll because he’s an idiot’ and less along the lines of ‘I’m tired of being oppressed by systemic socioeconomic classism’?”

“I wish I could make things easier for her, but this isn’t the sort of thing that goes away overnight.” Kisame argued. “I wish she didn’t have to put up with this shit, but if we coddle her now, it doesn’t help her in the long run.”

Yagura rolled his eyes. “Things really aren’t as complicated as adults like to pretend they are.” He turned on his heel and stalked off to the genin tent. 

Right, his things were already in there.

Well, Sakura had one immensely powerful jounin on her side. Even better, he was one of the ones that didn’t care about politics.

-

Sakura looked grumpy when she emerged for her watch shift. He didn’t blame her. Haku and Yagura briefed Kisame and Sakura (nothing to report) and the two went to bed.

“Ready?” Kisame asked.

Sakura took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, she looked a little calmer. “Yeah.”

“Alright. Let’s walk the perimeter.”

They walked in silence for a moment.

“Want to talk about it?” Kisame asked after a while.

Sakura’s shoulders tensed. “No.” She said.

“Mm. Well, we need to.” Kisame braced himself a bit and continued. “You shouldn’t have to put up with unequal treatment. We’re addressing that. However, you’re still going to have to work with him. We all have to get used to working with people who don’t like us.”

Sakura visibly rolled her eyes. “I’ve been working with people who hate me for being nien my entire life. I know how I’m expected to behave.”

Kisame sighed. Maybe he should try a different tact. 

“There’s not a lot that you can tell me about being a nien, you know.” Sakura sighed back at him. “You reien don’t know anything about what we go through.”

Kisame paused and considered her words. Remembered what Mei had said. “Okay, so tell me about it.”

Sakura glanced at him warily.

“You’re right, I don’t know. So tell me about it so I do know.”

Sakura made a face. “That’s going to take, like, days.” She said.

Kisame shrugged. “We can be watch buddies the next few days. One way or another, I’m getting to the bottom of this.”

“And what are you going to do about it?” Sakura tilted her head curiously, a little bit of her guardedness lowering.

Kisame grinned. That was the curious little fish he knew. “Mei cares a lot more than you might think about the class differences in Kiri.” He said.

And thus began Sakura’s lecture’s for Kisame-- quite a change for him. He hadn’t been anyone’s student in a long while. 

The two days were better. Sakura had obviously had time to have some soft discussions with her teammates, because the three of them stuck together like a school of fish. To Kisame’s amusement, Yagura also began exhibiting school-like behavior, keeping close to the genin. With his soft gray-brown hair and bright pink eyes, he fit right in with Kisame’s pastel students. 

-

The land of fire was surprisingly devoid of fire. It had more trees than anything else, which was amazing to Sakura. She’d never seen so much green in her life!

“This is incredible!” She flung her arms open wide when they came to a wide open meadow over gentle, rolling hills. It was surrounded by towering trees, a mix of seasonal and pine.

“Speak for yourself.” Haku was as waspish as she’d ever heard them. They’d gotten pine sap in their hair and were pretty pissed about it. They kept reaching up to touch the side of their head where they’d stumbled against uneven roots and bonked their head on the tree trunk.

“Hm.” Sakura examined it, now that they’d stopped for a moment. “Since it’s so sticky, maybe something oily will help?” She offered. “Konoha is close, maybe we can find something there.”

Haku sighed, long and deep-suffering. “Maybe.”

Kisame sneezed violently enough to make Chojuro jump.

“ _ Fucking _ pollen!” He growled.

Sakura and Haku giggled.

“What’s the holdup?” Mei exited the treeline.

“Fucking flowers.” Kisame grumbled, fishing out a handkerchief. 

“Isn’t it pretty?” Haku gravitated immediately to Zabuza’s side.

Chojuro was already thigh deep in the brightly colored blooms, smiling. He was making a beeline for something, and returned after a moment with a bright orange flower that he presented to Mei. 

She smiled and accepted it. “Thank you, you little brat.” She said affectionately. She tucked it behind her ear. 

He smiled, pleased.

Sakura giggled again, smothering it with her hand. That was adorable. She herself was taking plenty of mental notes. “Kisame?”

“Yeah, kid?” Kisame sniffled.

“Will we pass through here on our way back? I want to pick some flowers to press when we do.” Sakura asked.

He nodded. “Yeah. Easiest way to the main river to the coast is through this little hell-hole.” He made a wet, flappy noise and dabbed at his gills with a handkerchief. “Ugh. Disgusting.” He grimaced.

Sakura quite agreed.

-

Konoha itself was as incredible as the massive trees that surrounded it. 

“Here for the chunin exams?” The gate guards smiled cheerily at them when they took their assembled papers from Sakura.

“Yes!” She smiled sweetly.

Their passports were quickly compared to their faces, with only a blink of surprise at Kisame. The guard looked down at the scroll and their assembled applications. “Team fourteen from Kiri.” He reported to the guard at the desk who was scribbling away as soon as he started talking. “Chojuro Terumi, first attempt. Haku Yuki-Momochi, first attempt. Sakura Haruno, first attempt. Jounin instructor Kisame Hoshigaki.”

“Got it.” The other guard confirmed. “Here are the visitor passes.” He held out something to the first guard.

“Thanks. These are your visitor passes.” He passed them to Sakura. “Each of you are to take one and display it visibly on your village headband.” They were cloth bands emblazoned with the Konoha leaf and the chunin logo.

Sakura passed them out. 

“Oi, Sasuke!” The guard called over his shoulder.

A dark haired boy hurried up. He was wearing a blue shirt with a large collar and gray pants with gray arm and leg protectors. He had a konoha leaf headband on his forehead. He was pretty. Like, really pretty. Creamy, flawless skin, eyes shadowed slightly by his bangs, dark mysterious eyes. He was  _ totally  _ Sakura’s type.

“This is Sasuke, he’s going to show you to your quarters in the diplomat’s district and let you know about orientation later this evening. Sasuke, this is team fourteen from Kiri. Team fourteen, welcome to Konoha! Good luck on your exams!”

“Hi. This way please.” He said flatly.

They all moved inside the village but paused together a few meters inside the gates. They all stopped together without saying anything and it took their guide a few steps to realize.

“Hey.” He frowned. “This way.”

Sakura shot him a frown. That wasn’t very cute of him. The four of them ignored him as they watched the Mizukage’s delegation reach the gates. Mei had stopped a kilometer out to pull on her kage robes and hat, changing into her trademark blue kimono and ninja nets. Zabuza, Ao, Utakata, and Yagura flanked her on all sides, like a box. An incredibly powerful, incredibly deadly, incredibly murderous box.

Sakura tugged a thread of chakra to her ears, knowing her teammates were all doing the same.

“Ah, Mizukage-Sama! Welcome to Konoha!” The gate guard bowed deeply. The second guard jumped up and hurried out of the guard shack and around the corner to a small outbuilding. “We’re so glad to have you here and we’re so happy to welcome you to our village!” He returned with a scarred man with dark hair in a ponytail. “We appreciate you traveling all this way for the chunin exams. This is Shikaku Nara, one of the Hokage’s personal council.” He said, just as the man walked up and bowed.

Nara started talking as Ao handed off the bundle of papers to the guard. He took it into the guard shack and the two guards bent over the packet, whispering and writing like crazy as they looked everything over. They finished and had the packet back to Ao just as Nara was finishing his welcoming speech. They were a well oiled machine. It was fascinating.

“Are you done gawking yet?” Their guard asked with a sneer.

Team fourteen turned to him incredulously.

“Or should I just come back later?” He added.

Sakura couldn’t believe she thought he was  _ cute _ . 

He looked Haku up and down with a curl to his lip and said something that made Sakura see red.

Sakura slugged him. 

There was a satisfying crunch under her fist. 

Kisame was going to be so pissed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and so begins Sakura's rivalry with Sasuke (he said something transphobic)  
> Sakura Haruno says trans rights   
> this chapter took me a while to write just because there were so many things I wanted to try and fit in. Not all of it made the cut, but at least we're to Konoha!! but don't worry, Sakura's issues with things will be addressed further at later dates; i just literally ran out of timeline to squeeze any more in while they were traveling (and i tried!!)  
> as this story focuses on Sakura (and Kisame), I might add another part to this series that looks at what different characters are up to for the chunin exams. If I did, who would y'all want to check in on?  
> Leave me a comment and let me know what you liked! and to those of you who have left comments before, thank you, thank you, thank you <3 you are the wind beneath my wings and all that and all the love you have for my story is overwhelming sometimes and I appreciate each and every word and emoji and shriek of excitement that's sent my way <3 <3 <3 your support means the world to me and it's incredible to think of how many times I've rewritten some of these scenes over and over and over again trying to get it just right for you all so that it can be the story you deserve to read <3   
> next chapter: Kisame and Itachi meet and commiserate over their bloodthirsty little children and team 14 gets to have a fashion montage!

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on [tumblr](http://inaweofdiana.tumblr.com/)!  
> 


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